As the Russian military operation enters its eighth day, with complete control over the southern city of Kherson, American officials predicted on Thursday that the Ukrainian city of Odessa, the third-largest city in the country, would face a Russian amphibious assault. They noted that several Russian warships are heading towards it from the Crimean Peninsula, according to reports from Fox News. This comes as Russian naval units have intensified near the city's coastline. Meanwhile, Russian forces have escalated their attacks on towns and cities across the country, including locations inside or near the two major southern Ukrainian coastal cities of Odessa and Mariupol.
In Odessa, a city with a population of nearly one million people on Ukraine's southern coast, supermarket supplies have run out for days, according to eyewitnesses.
### Fall of Kherson
The Russian military operations on Ukrainian territory have entered their first week, with reports of full control over Kherson city by Russian forces. Ukrainian officials confirmed late Wednesday into Thursday that the Russian army has taken over Kherson, a city Moscow declared captured following fierce battles. Head of the regional administration, Hennadiy Lahuta, stated in a message on Telegram that "Russians are present in every street of the city and are very dangerous." Igor Kolykhayev, the mayor of the city with a population of 290,000, confirmed that the city "is facing significant difficulties in collecting and burying the dead, delivering food and medicine, collecting garbage, managing incidents, and so forth." He added, "I have made no promises" to the Russians and simply asked them not to shoot at people.
It is noteworthy that the Russian military operation began on February 24, 2022, following Moscow's recognition of the independence of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, after months of escalating tension between the Kremlin and the West. This prompted the European Union, the United States, as well as Britain, Australia, Canada, Japan, and others to impose severe and painful sanctions on Russia, and led to a flow of Western arms and military support to Kyiv to confront the Russian offensive.
