Al Mayadeen correspondent in Crimea affirmed that Russian forces have surrounded the city of Odessa in southern Ukraine, noting that Ukraine’s military had been cut off from the Sea of Azov.

The Russian military approached the city of Kharkov with the winning side soon to be determined, added our correspondent. 

Russian Defense Ministry revealed on Tuesday that Ukraine’s military had been cut off from the Sea of Azov, adding that advanced forces of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine united with Russian troops on the administrative border of Donetsk and blocked access to the sea.

An official in the Ukrainian President's office previously announced that Russian forces have taken control of all administrative buildings in Ukraine's city of Berdyansk which is located in the Zaporozhye region overlooking the Sea of Azov.

Russia avoid aiming at civilian targets

On his account, Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that the main goal of the Russian military operation in Ukraine is defending the country against a military threat created by the West, stressing that Russian forces will continue the mission until they reach their stated aims of demilitarizing and denazifying the country.

Shoigu stressed that the Russian military was not seeking to "occupy" Ukrainian territory and that troops were doing everything possible to protect civilians' lives, including limiting strikes to military targets using precision weapons.

The Russian military and their Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republic allies launched a large-scale military operation aimed at demilitarizing Ukraine. After weeks of escalating shelling, mortar, sniper, and sabotage attacks by Ukrainian armed forces and ultra-nationalist and neo-Nazi groups in Donbass, the operation began.

The Ukrainian side has demonstrated in places that it has no qualms about using civilians as human shields, including deploying artillery systems, heavy guns, and large-caliber mortars near residential areas, schools, and kindergartens, the defense minister added.

Since the start of the special military operation in Donbass, the Russian military destroyed 1,325 Ukrainian military infrastructure, including two airfields and three air defense radar posts, 43 control and communication centers, 395 tanks and other armored vehicles, 59 multiple rocket launchers, 179 pieces of field artillery and mortars, and 286 units of special military vehicles.