Putin's boring speech; according to Macron, Ukraine will not join the EU soon; Orban withdrew from the veto of Russian oil. Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

New Russian missile attack on Odessa, there are more civilians in Azovstal, Mariupol

Despite reports of a successful evacuation of all civilians from the Azovstal metallurgical plant, it is believed that there are still residents of the besieged port city of Mariupol. A new Russian missile attack on Odessa has been reported by Ukrainian authorities.

One person was killed and five were injured in a rocket attack on Odessa. A fire broke out in a shopping center, the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN reported. According to the Operational Military District "South" in Odessa, a total of seven missiles were fired.

The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, said there were still more than 100 civilians at the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol. According to him, the evacuation is difficult due to strong pressure from the Russian military in the area. The besieged port city also has about 100,000 inhabitants, Kirilenko added.

In the morning summary of the course of hostilities in Ukraine, the General Staff in Kyiv announced the expected "demonstrative" movement of Russian troops in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions in order to strengthen positions.

The Ukrainian General Staff also reports that near Kharkiv, the Russians are defending themselves in an attempt to stop the advance of Ukrainian troops to the border. Fighting is taking place in the Sievierodonetsk region, and the Russian army is preparing an offensive against the city. There are no active hostilities near Kherson and Mykolaiv, but there is shelling.

Russia's armed forces continue to face serious challenges, according to a daily analysis by the Washington-based Institute for War Studies. According to it, there are no signals of a new major Russian mobilization, but members of the private military company Wagner have urgently requested additional fighters for Donbas.

The Pentagon says it has evidence of the forcible removal of Ukrainian civilians to Russia. "I can't say how many camps there are in Russia for this purpose or what they look like, but we have evidence that they exist," said Defense Secretary John Kirby.

US President Joe Biden has signed a congressional arms and ammunition aid bill passed by Congress, similar to the Loan-Rent program, in which the United States helped its allies, including the Soviet Union, in the fight against the Third Reich. This was announced by the White House.

Biden commented that he was worried that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not see a way out of the war in Ukraine.

"He wrongly decided that the invasion of Ukraine would divide NATO and the European Union," he said.

His spokeswoman Jen Psaki also commented on yesterday's speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Red Square.

"Putin presented a revisionist version of history. This is misinformation. The assumption that Putin's war was provoked by Western aggression is obviously absurd."

Putin: "War protects Russia"

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his long-awaited speech on Victory Day at a large-scale military parade in Moscow. He said he had no choice but to send troops to Ukraine to protect Russia's homeland from an "absolutely unacceptable threat".

Speculation that he could use the 77th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany during World War II to escalate the conflict was unfounded. Instead, the Russian leader insisted on the need to avoid the "horrors of global war."

Parade of separatists in Mariupol

A giant black-and-orange ribbon was carried through the devastated port city of Mariupol by pro-Russian separatists to mark Victory Day. In late April, after the siege of the strategic city for several weeks, Moscow said it had taken control of the city, with the exception of the huge Azovstal steel plant, where other Ukrainian forces are hiding.

The Kremlin said last week that no Victory Day celebrations were planned in the ruined city.

"We will win," Zelensky said

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will not allow the Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis to be "appropriated" by Putin.

"We are proud of our ancestors who, along with other nations in the anti-Hitler coalition, defeated Nazism. And we will not allow anyone to annex this victory. We will not allow it to be appropriated," he said.

He compared the Russian invasion to the Nazi occupation of parts of present-day Ukraine and vowed: "We won then. We will win now. "

Fierce battles in the east

As Russia tries to take over the Russian-speaking Donbas region to the east, Luhansk Oblast Governor Sergei Gaidai says there are "very serious battles" around Belogorovka and Rubezhne.

Donbas covers Luhansk and the neighboring Donetsk region.

EU chief to meet with Orban in oil dispute

EU High Representative Ursula von der Leyen has met with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is thwarting Brussels' plans for an embargo on Russian oil.

Landlocked Hungary relies on Russian oil from a single pipeline, and Orbán warned he could not approve the European Commission's proposed sixth package of EU sanctions against Moscow. Orbán echoed Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Siarto, who compared the sanctions package to an "atomic bomb" for the Hungarian economy.

Macron: Ukraine "decades" away from EU membership

Von der Layen says the EU will give its opinion on Ukraine's membership bid next month, but French President Emmanuel Macron seems to rule out the possibility of the country joining the Union in the near future.

Macron, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, says joining the bloc will take "decades" and instead proposes that Ukraine and other EU candidates such as Moldova and Georgia be integrated into a new "European political community" which has not yet been created.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described it as a "very interesting proposal".

UN Human Rights Body meets in Ukraine

The UN Human Rights Council has announced that it will convene a special session on Thursday to address Russian torture and killings of civilians for no reason.

More than 50 countries support Kyiv's request for an emergency meeting of the UN High Body of Rights to address "the deteriorating human rights situation in Ukraine resulting from Russian aggression."

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