KYIV, Ukraine, July 1, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Missile strikes killed 19 people and 
wounded dozens in Ukraine's Odessa region Friday, a day after Russian troops 
abandoned positions on a strategic island in a major setback to the Kremlin's 
invasion.

Two children were among the dead and six others among the injured, Ukrainian 
officials said, one day after US President Joe Biden announced $800 million 
in new weapons for Kyiv at a NATO summit.

The missiles slammed into an apartment building and a recreation centre early 
Friday in the town of Serhiivka about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the 
Black Sea port of Odessa, which has become a strategic flashpoint in the 
conflict. 

"The death toll is 19 people," wrote Sergiy Kruk, head of the Ukrainian 
emergency services, on Facebook. Thirty-eight people were wounded, including 
six children, he added.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior official at the Ukrainian presidency, earlier put 
the death toll at 18, including two children.

The strikes were launched by aircraft that flew in from the Black Sea, said 
Odessa military administration spokesman Sergiy Bratchuk.

"The worst-case scenario played out and two strategic aircraft came to the 
Odessa region," he said in a TV interview, adding they had fired "very heavy 
and very powerful" missiles.

There was no immediate comment from Russia on the strikes. 

The strikes follow global outrage earlier this week when a Russian strike 
destroyed a shopping centre in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, killing at least 
18 civilians. President Vladimir Putin has denied Moscow's forces were 
responsible.

- Making 'history' -

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed a "new" chapter of 
"history" with the European Union, after Brussels recently granted Ukraine 
"candidate status" in Kyiv's push to join the 27-member bloc, even if 
membership is likely years away.

"We're not close. Now we are together," he told Ukraine's parliament. 

"We made a journey of 115 days to candidate status and our journey to 
membership shouldn't take decades. We should make it down this road quickly," 
Zelensky said. 

One day earlier he announced Ukraine had begun exporting electricity to the 
EU, via Romania, as fears grow of an energy crisis in Europe due to reduced 
Russian gas deliveries. 

The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen told Ukrainian 
lawmakers Friday that membership was "within reach" but urged them to make 
anti-corruption reforms.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, four people died and three were wounded in shelling in 
Izium and Chuguiv, two districts of the Kharkiv region of north-eastern 
Ukraine in the last 24 hours, said Oleg Synegubov, Kharkiv chief of district 
on Telegram. 

Ukrainian officials also accused Russian forces of shelling relentlessly the 
city of Lysychansk in the eastern Donbas region.

Capturing the city would allow the Russians to push deeper in the Donbas, 
which has become the focus of their offensive since failing to capture Kyiv 
after their February invasion.

- Donbas under fire -

Sergiy Gaiday -- governor of the Lugansk region, which includes Lysychansk -- 
said the city continued to face heavy shelling. 

"Evacuation from Lysychansk is not possible for now," he said. "The town is 
being ruined constantly," he added. 

On Thursday, Russian troops abandoned their positions on Snake Island, which 
had become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the first days of the war and 
was also a strategic target, sitting aside shipping lanes near the port of 
Odessa.

Russia had attempted to install missile and air defence batteries while under 
fire from drones.

Zelensky said Russia's decision to abandon Snake Island "changes the 
situation in the Black Sea considerably".

"It does not yet guarantee security. It does not yet guarantee that the enemy 
will not return. But it already considerably limits the actions of the 
occupiers," he said.

The Russian defence ministry described the retreat as "a gesture of goodwill" 
meant to demonstrate that Moscow will not interfere with UN efforts to 
organise protected grain exports from Ukraine.

In peacetime, Ukraine is a major agricultural exporter, but Russia's invasion 
has damaged farmland and seen Ukraine's ports seized, razed or blockaded -- 
sparking concerns about food shortages, particularly in poor countries.

- 'Iron Curtain' -

Western powers have accused Putin of using the trapped harvest as a weapon to 
increase pressure on the international community, and Russia has been accused 
of stealing grain.

The conflict in Ukraine dominated the NATO summit in Madrid this week, as the 
alliance officially invited Sweden and Finland to join, and Biden announced 
new deployments of US troops, ships and planes to Europe.

On Thursday, Biden vowed that the United States and NATO would "stick with 
Ukraine, as long as it takes to make sure they are not defeated by Russia".

Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov 
compared surging diplomatic tensions to the Cold War.

"As far as an Iron Curtain is concerned, essentially it is already 
descending... The process has begun," he told reporters.

On Thursday, a ship carrying 7,000 tonnes of grain sailed from Ukraine's 
occupied port of Berdyansk, said the regional leader appointed by the Russian 
occupation forces.

Evgeny Balitsky, the head of the pro-Moscow administration, said Russia's 
Black Sea ships "are ensuring the security" of the journey, adding that the 
port had been de-mined.