Russian missile strikes kill at least 16 people in Odessa, Ukraine
A Russian missile strike on Odessa killed at least 16 people and injured 55 others, Ukrainian authorities said Friday, the latest in a series of deadly airstrikes on the southern Ukrainian port city.
The Ukrainian State Emergency Services said an initial rocket hit several houses late in the morning, prompting rescuers to rush to the scene. A second rocket then landed at the same spot, killing many, including at least one paramedic and a rescue worker. The reports could not be independently verified.
Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odessa region, posted photos on social media in which rescue workers evacuate one of their colleagues on a stretcher and try to extinguish a fire near a destroyed building. a photo released by the Odesa City Council showed what appeared to be a rescuer lying on the grass, his lifeless body covered by a foil blanket.
Ukrainian authorities said the attacks destroyed a three-story building, damaged 10 houses and a gas pipeline and caused a fire that spread to an area of about 1,300 square meters.
It was the third deadly attack on Odessa in two weeks, killing at least 33 people in total. It came as Russians began voting in presidential elections that President Vladimir V. Putin would almost certainly win, and as his country’s war in Ukraine had entered its third year and showed no signs of abating.
On the same day, Russian authorities said Ukrainian shelling of the western city of Belgorod, close to Ukraine, had killed one civilian and wounded two others. Their claims could not be independently verified.
The attack on Odesa appeared to be what military officials call a “double-tap attack,” hitting the same target twice with a time gap between the two attacks, to kill emergency workers or firefighters responding to the first attack. Russian forces have previously used this tactic in Ukraine and Syria.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian army in the south, said The attack involved ballistic missiles fired from Crimea, the Russian-occupied Ukrainian peninsula.
A lifeline for the Ukrainian economy, Odesa is home to an extensive port infrastructure that is crucial for Ukrainian exports to the Black Sea. Many ships depart from the port to ship grain and other agricultural products across the Black Sea.
The city, which Putin has long claimed belongs to Russia, was relatively unaffected by the fighting at the start of the war. But over the past six months, Russia has targeted grain silos and naval infrastructure there with drones and missiles in an attempt to undermine Ukraine’s relatively successful export operations in the Black Sea.
The attacks have also caused civilian casualties, either from direct attacks or from falling debris. Earlier this month, a drone hit a residential building, killing twelve civilians. It took rescuers several days to pull the bodies from the rubble, including those of babies and children.
And last week a rocket hit the city while President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece were visiting, killing five people. Mr. Zelensky later told an Italian television station that the rocket was less than half a mile from where he stood with Mr. Mitsotakis.
“I don’t know who this hit was aimed at,” Mr. Zelensky said, adding that it was “incredible” that Russia could attack the city while state leaders were visiting. The attack drew widespread condemnation from foreign leaders.