A new attack by 25 drones launched by Russia early Sunday struck and damaged port infrastructure in the Odesa region, injuring two civilians, the Ukrainian Air Force said, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian War: Day 557 LIVETEXT:

08:11A new massive drone attack by Russians early Sunday hit and damaged port infrastructure in the Odesa region, injuring two civilians, the Ukrainian Air Force said, Reuters reported. Ukrainian air defense systems shot down 22 Iranian-made Shahed drones, the Air Force reported, adding that the shelling lasted three and a half hours.

The BBC claims that Russia used a total of 25 Shahed drones against the southern regions of Ukraine, which were launched from the occupied Crimea and the Russian port city of Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Territory, located on the sea coast. Azov, The Kyiv also writes Independent. On Sunday evening, an aviation alert was activated in the Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions.

In recent months, Odesa’s infrastructure has repeatedly been hit by Russia.

08:00Two more cargo ships left the ports of southern Ukraine and passed through the Black Sea Corridor designated by Kyiv despite Russia’s naval blockade, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“Two more vessels have successfully passed through our temporary Black Sea grain corridor. Ukraine is restoring true freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. Freedom requires determination,” President Zelenskyy wrote on the X social network.

07:40Traffic on the main bridge connecting the Russian mainland to the Crimean peninsula has resumed after a brief suspension early Sunday morning, the bridge operator said without specifying the reason, Reuters reported.

The Russian administrator of the structure did not disclose the reason for the suspension, but the Kerch bridge in Crimea has been the object of increasing attacks from the air and sea in recent months.

On Friday evening, Russia announced that it had destroyed three Ukrainian naval drones in the Black Sea, which allegedly targeted the Crimean bridge.

The nearly 20-kilometer-long concrete bridge, Europe’s longest and inaugurated in 2018 by Vladimir Putin, consists of two parallel structures – one for road traffic and the other for rail traffic – and was damaged after being closed to traffic for several days, at least twice after Ukrainian drone attacks.

Highlights of the last 24 hours:

• The Nobel Foundation announced on Saturday that it will no longer invite the Russian ambassador to this year’s Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm after the scandal caused by his invitation, AFP reported.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Kyiv’s troops were “advancing” in a counteroffensive against Russian forces, rejecting claims by Western officials that Ukraine was gaining ground too slowly, Reuters reported.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to host Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, about a month and a half after Moscow scrapped a deal brokered by Ankara and the United Nations that allowed Ukrainian grain to enter world markets.
• The largest refugee center created to accommodate Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion has been closed by Poland, which says it is no longer needed because most have found refuge elsewhere, writes The Guardian with reference to the Financial Times.
• The Biden administration will send munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine for the first time, according to a document seen by Reuters and in separate confirmations from two US officials, Reuters reports.
• Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky was arrested on charges of fraud and money laundering.