Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* In some eastern regions of Ukraine, Luhansk, Kharkiv and Dnipro, air raid sirens could be heard early on Tuesday. DIPLOMACY AND SANCTIONS * Zelenskiy urged the international community for immediate steps to end a Russian blockade of Ukraine's ports and allow wheat exports. * Ukraine alone can define the conditions for any negotiations with Russia, said France's Macron, adding it was Europe's "duty" to stand by Kyiv.

Buildings lay in ruins on Tuesday in Ukraine's southern port of Odesa, a day after Kremlin forces pounded it with missiles and President Vladimir Putin led defiant celebrations of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. VICTORY DAY

* Putin evoked the memory of wartime Soviet heroism to inspire his army fighting in Ukraine, but offered no new road map to victory and acknowledged the cost to Russian soldiers' lives. * Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a statement for the victory anniversary, promised Ukrainians would triumph, saying, "The road to it is difficult, but we do not doubt that we will win."

* In Poland, the Russian ambassador was surrounded by protesters at a memorial ceremony and doused in red paint. * Russia is not planning to proactively close embassies in Europe in response to unfriendly measures by the West and the expansion of sanctions against Moscow, the RIA news agency said, citing a deputy foreign minister.

* French President Emmanuel Macron joined German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a Berlin landmark as the Brandenburg Gate was illuminated in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. The Eiffel Tower in Paris was also illuminated. FIGHTING

* Ukraine's defense ministry said Russian forces backed by tanks and artillery were conducting "storming operations" on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where the city's last defenders are holed up. * In Odesa, the major Black Sea port for the export of farm products, one person was killed and five injured when seven missiles hit a shopping center and a depot, Ukraine's armed forces said on Facebook.

* Air raid sirens and missiles interrupted a meeting between European Council President Charles Michel who was visiting Odesa and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, forcing them into a bomb shelter. * In some eastern regions of Ukraine, Luhansk, Kharkiv, and Dnipro, air raid sirens could be heard early on Tuesday.

DIPLOMACY AND SANCTIONS * Zelenskiy urged the international community for immediate steps to end a Russian blockade of Ukraine's ports and allow wheat exports.

* Ukraine alone can define the conditions for any negotiations with Russia, said France's Macron, adding it was Europe's "duty" to stand by Kyiv. * Japan will decide the timing and method of a Russian oil embargo while considering the possible economic impact, its industry minister said.

QUOTES "We hate Putin," said Kateryna Grigoriyevna, 79, who has spent 10 weeks in a Kharkiv metro station used as a bomb shelter. "I would kill him myself if I could." 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)