A Russian ballistic missile attack has killed at least 20 people and injured more than 75 in the Black Sea city of Odesa, Ukrainian officials have said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia would receive a “fair response” from Ukrainian forces for what he said was a “vile” strike on a city that has been attacked by Russian drones or missiles almost every day this month.
The attack on civilian infrastructure was Russia’s deadliest in weeks after moscow recently increased its strikes on the port city.
Two Russian Iskander-M missiles fired from the Moscow-occupied peninsula of Crimea struck a residential area in Odesa on Friday, the regional governor, Oleh Kiper, said on national television. Some residents were facing gas and electricity supply cuts as a result of strikes, he added.
“The explosion was very strong, especially the second one … This is a very powerful missile that flies from the occupied Crimea in a few minutes,” Kiper said.
A second missile killed a medic and a rescuer after they rushed to the scene to treat people hurt in the initial strike. Ten people received serious injuries, Kiper said.
Zelenskiy said on Telegram: “Our defence forces will certainly do everything to ensure that the Russian killers feel our fair response.”
Residents were rushing to donate blood, creating queues at medical centres. Saturday was declared a local day of mourning.
A three-storey recreational facility was destroyed in the attack, as well as at least 10 private houses, the southern military command said. Bodies were laid out in foil protective blankets, while dozens of rescuers battled to put out fires and cleared the rubble.
Odesa, one of Ukraine’s biggest ports, has long been a target of Russian attacks, especially after Moscow quit a UN-brokered deal that had allowed safe passage for Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea.
“The Russian terror in Odesa is a sign of the weakness of the enemy, which is fighting against Ukrainian civilians at a time when it cannot guarantee the safety of people on its own territory,” the Ukrainian presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram.
Moscow denies targeting civilians in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine it launched in February 2022, although many have been killed in frequent Russian airstrikes across the country.
Ukraine has developed and used long-range drones to try to strike back at Russia, stepping up attacks on a string of oil refineries this week in the run-up to Russia’s 15-17 March presidential election.
Ukraine attacked a small refinery in Russia’s Kaluga region with drones on Friday in an operation conducted by the GUR military spy agency, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters.
A three-storey recreational facility was destroyed in the attack, as well as at least 10 private houses, the southern military command said. Bodies were laid out in foil protective blankets, while dozens of rescuers battled to put out fires and cleared the rubble.
Odesa, one of Ukraine’s biggest ports, has long been a target of Russian attacks, especially after Moscow quit a UN-brokered deal that had allowed safe passage for Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea.
“The Russian terror in Odesa is a sign of the weakness of the enemy, which is fighting against Ukrainian civilians at a time when it cannot guarantee the safety of people on its own territory,” the Ukrainian presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram.
Moscow denies targeting civilians in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine it launched in February 2022, although many have been killed in frequent Russian airstrikes across the country.
Ukraine has developed and used long-range drones to try to strike back at Russia, stepping up attacks on a string of oil refineries this week in the run-up to Russia’s 15-17 March presidential election.
Ukraine attacked a small refinery in Russia’s Kaluga region with drones on Friday in an operation conducted by the GUR military spy agency, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters.