Russia on Saturday admitted using advanced hypersonic missiles for the first time in the Ukraine conflict as Kyiv's embattled leader Volodymyr Zelensky called for urgent peace talks.
Moscow has never admitted using the state-of-the-art missile in combat before.
Moscow also said its troops had broken Ukrainian defences to enter the strategic southern port city of Mariupol and destroyed radio and intelligence sites just outside Odessa.
Meanwhile Ukraine's leader once again appealed for peace.
"This is the time to meet, to talk, time for renewing territorial integrity and fairness for Ukraine," Zelensky said in a Facebook video.
"Otherwise, Russia's losses will be such, that several generations will not recover."
Ukraine claimed Saturday that a Russian general had been killed by strikes on an airfield outside Kherson, just north of Crimea, saying he was the fifth top-ranking officer killed since the invasion began on February 24.
The New Arab is providing live updates of what's been happening on the ground in Ukraine and additional analysis on the conflict's significance.