Russian missile strikes kill at least 20 in Odesa, Ukraine says
KYIV, UKRAINE >> A Russian missile attack on Odesa killed at least 20 people and injured 73 others, Ukrainian authorities said Friday, the latest in a series of deadly air assaults on the southern Ukrainian port city.
Ukraine's state emergency services said a first missile hit several houses late in the morning, prompting rescuers to rush to the scene.
A second missile then landed on the same site, causing many fatalities, including at least one paramedic and a rescue worker. The reports could not be independently verified.
Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, posted photos on social media showing rescue workers evacuating one of their colleagues on a stretcher and trying to put out 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, a gas pipeline and started a fire that spread to an area of about 1,300 square feet.
It was the third deadly assault on Odesa in two weeks, with a total of at least 34 people killed. It came as Russians began voting in a presidential election that President Vladimir Putin was all but certain to win, and while his country's war in Ukraine had entered its third year and showed no sign 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.
Friday's assault 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 strikes in order to kill emergency workers or firefighters responding to the first strike. Russian forces have used this tactic before in Ukraine and Syria.
Videos posted online by Ukrainian reporters in Odesa showed bodies lying in pools of blood on the pavement, covered with a foil blanket, a simple sheet or a body bag.