One killed in Russian attack on Ukrainian port cities – Odesa governor
2023.07.20 05:38
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© Reuters. A damaged vehicle is seen at the site of a building that was damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at a location given as Mykolaiv, Ukraine in this handout image released July 20, 2023. National Police of Ukraine/Handout
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By Viktoria Lakezina
MYKOLAIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – Russia attacked Odesa and Mykolaiv on Thursday in a third successive night of air strikes on southern Ukrainian port cities, killing one person and wounding at least 27, Ukrainian officials said.
One person was also killed in Russian shelling in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, regional authorities said.
In Mykolaiv, fire fighters tackled a huge blaze overnight. A three-storey residential building was left without its top floor and a line of adjacent buildings was left charred and gutted by fire.
Ukraine’s military said Russian forces had launched 19 missiles and 19 drones overnight, and that five of the missiles and 13 of the drones had been shot down.
Nineteen people were wounded in the city of Mykolaiv, and several residential buildings were damaged, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said.
A security guard was killed and at least eight others were hurt in Odesa, including a child, regional governor Oleh Kiper said.
“Odesa. Mykolaiv. Russian terrorists continue their attempts to destroy the life of our country,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app. “Unfortunately, there are wounded and dead.”
“Together we will make it through this terrible time. And we will withstand the attacks of Russian evil,” he said.
Russia has stepped up missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and surrounding areas since withdrawing on Monday from a year-old U.N.-brokered deal allowing the safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments.
Ukraine is an important grain producer and the deal was intended to help ease a global food crisis worsened by Russia’s full-scale invasion last year.
Air strikes earlier this week damaged Ukrainian grain export infrastructure, officials said. There was no word of any significant damage to port infrastructure on Thursday.
Moscow did not comment on the latest air strikes but said the attacks on Ukrainian port cities on Tuesday were meant as retaliation for blasts on a bridge used to transport Russian military supplies which it blamed on Kyiv.
Authorities in Kharkiv said separately that a 61-year-old man had been killed on Thursday morning in Russian shelling of the village of Kozacha Lopan.
