Saturday, 16 March 2024

Russian missile strikes kill at least 14 people and injure 46 others in Odesa as Ukraine war rages.

Extract from ABC News 

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A Russian missile strike killed at least 14 people and injured at least 46 others in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa on Friday.

Local authorities said the first missile struck a group of houses, and when emergency crews arrived at the scene, a second missile landed.

Among those killed were a paramedic and an emergency service worker.

Ukraine's State Emergency Service and regional governor Oleh Kiper said the attack damaged at least 10 houses and some emergency service equipment.

A fire truck with a smashed window is parked in a street with damaged houses in the background
A damaged fire engine attends the scene of a Russian attack in Odesa on Friday.(AP Photo: Victor Sajenko)

The tactic of firing a second missile at the same location, aiming to hit rescuers, is known in military terms as a double tap. Such strikes often hit civilians.

Mr Kiper announced that a day of mourning in Odesa would be held on Saturday — the second such observance in less than two weeks.

On March 2, a Russian drone struck a multi-storey building, killing 12 people, including five children.

Since last summer Russia has intensified its attacks on Odesa, a southern port city with a population of around 1 million.

An emergency service worker steps over rubble of former home carrying a ladder with smoke billowing in the background
A rescuer works at the site of a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike in Vinnytsia, Ukraine.(Press service of the National Police of Ukraine via Reuters)

The attacks have primarily targeted port infrastructure, aiming to disrupt the export of goods after Ukraine managed to restore maritime navigation with a series of successful operations in the Black Sea.

Moscow officials have also claimed they are aiming at facilities where Ukrainian sea drones are stored for attacks on Russia's Black Sea fleet.

Overnight, the governor of Ukraine's central Vinnytsia region said two people were killed and three others wounded after Russia struck a building with a drone.

Ukraine's air force said it shot down all 27 drones that Russia launched over the Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Khmelnytskyi and Kyiv regions.

Meanwhile the local governor of Russia's Belgorod region said one person had been killed by Ukrainian shelling there.

Belgorod has come under regular attack from Ukraine, with fighting there increasing in recent days.

Both sides said that Ukrainian forces crossed the border to attack Russian territory on Thursday.

AP/Reuters

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