(Kyiv) Russia targeted Mykolaiv and Odessa, port cities in southern Ukraine early Thursday, injuring at least 20 people, local authorities reported.
“The Russians hit the center of the city (of Mykolaiv). A garage and a three-story apartment building are on fire. The firefighters went to the scene,” Vitaliy Kim, governor of the Mykolaiv region, said on Telegram.
“A total of 18 people were injured, nine of them were hospitalized, including five children, two people were rescued from the rubble,” he added.
Mr. Kim did not provide other information, in particular as to the type of weapon used in this strike.
According to Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevich, “there is a huge hole in the ground near a three-storey residential building. The fire is very serious. »
“At least five residential buildings were damaged,” said the city councilor, adding that “about 15 garages” suffered damage “at another address.
In photos shared online by Mr Sienkevitch, a multi-storey building appears engulfed in flames as firefighters attempt to put out the blaze.
An air alert had been triggered earlier in several Ukrainian regions, including that of Mykolaiv, regularly targeted by Russian forces since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
“Destruction in the center of Odessa”
In Odessa, a major Ukrainian port city on the Black Sea some 100 km southwest of Mykolaiv, another Russian attack led to two people being hospitalized, according to the local governor.
“Following the Russian attack […] there was destruction in the center of Odessa,” said Oleg Kiper, governor of the Odessa region, on Telegram, without specifying the nature of the attack.
The competent services are hard at work, he added.
On images released by Serguiï Bratchouk, spokesman for the local military administration, we can see a man sweeping shards of glass outside a building as well as a building with several damaged windows.
Earlier in the night, the Kyiv air force had indicated on Telegram that they had detected the launch of missiles in the direction of the Odessa region, where an air alert was triggered. Mr. Kiper had invited the population to stay in the shelters.
This is the third consecutive night of Russian attacks on Odessa. During the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, an attack had targeted “the grain terminals and the port infrastructures” of the ports of Odessa and Chornomorsk, and “the silos and the quays of the port of Odessa” had in particular been damaged.
The Russian army, for its part, claimed to have targeted only “military industrial sites, fuel infrastructures and ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army”.
On Wednesday, Moscow announced that it would consider any vessel heading for Ukraine’s Black Sea grain ports a military target. Kyiv has for its part called for international escorts for these cargo ships after the expiration of a crucial agreement for world food.