Mall and food warehouse in Odesa struck by Russian missiles
▶ Ukrainian President says exports of fresh produce from southern port are at a standstill
At least one person was killed when Russian missiles struck a shopping mall and a food warehouse in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa.
Five people were injured in the attack, which occurred on Monday night and involved seven missiles, Ukraine’s military said yesterday.
The strikes disrupted a visit to Odesa by European Council President Charles Michel.
Mr Michel and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal took cover in a bomb shelter as air-raid sirens sounded.
The conflict has brought food exports from the southern port to a standstill.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Mr Michel had seen “with his own eyes what the blocked sea means”.
“For the first time in decades there is no usual movement of the merchant fleet, no usual port functioning in Odesa. Probably this has never happened in Odesa since World War Two,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
Local armed forces said the missiles were ageing Soviet-era models, while a Ukrainian think tank tracking the war identified them as modern hypersonic missiles.
Russia, which claims to be aiming at military targets, said it had taken out six Ukrainian helicopters near a military airfield to the west of Odesa.
Kyiv said the attacks were meant to put psychological pressure on civilians.
A Pentagon official said the US did not foresee any ground attack on Odesa and that Moscow was hemmed in by its lack of territorial gains.
The representative said Russia’s Black Sea fleet was keeping its distance from the coast, but that striking Odesa could divert Ukraine’s focus from the battle farther east in Donbas.
“We think part of the reason they’re striking there is … maybe pinning down Ukrainian forces in or around that area so that they are not available or they won’t feel like they should be made available to move to the Donbas,” the official said.
Ukraine said Russia was pushing for full control of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, going beyond the territory held by pro-Kremlin separatists before the invasion. It said artillery fire was being used along the line of contact in the east.
Air-raid sirens could be heard in several Ukrainian cities early yesterday, including Luhansk, Kharkiv and Dnipro, Reuters reported.
Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk, said the region had been attacked 22 times in the past 24 hours.
The strikes occurred on Victory Day, when both Russia and Ukraine commemorated the victory over Nazi Germany.
The anniversary had prompted speculation that Russia would announce a shift in strategy, but the day passed with no major announcements from the Kremlin.
Instead, President Vladimir Putin invoked the Soviet wartime spirit by claiming his forces were fighting in Ukraine to defeat neo-Nazis.
Western powers reject this as a spurious excuse for an invasion. They say the mission has failed to meet the Kremlin’s objectives after more than 10 weeks of fighting.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in a regular intelligence update yesterday that Russia had underestimated Ukraine’s resistance and had planned for a swift invasion that would encounter limited opposition.
As a result, Moscow had taken a relatively light approach to its early battles, a miscalculation that “led to unsustainable losses and a subsequent reduction in Russia’s operational focus”.
A Pentagon official said striking the city could divert Ukraine’s focus from the battle farther east in Donbas