Russian strikes kill 14, including rescuers, in Odesa
Ukraine said Friday that Russian forces had pounded the Black Sea port city of Odesa with missiles, killing more than a dozen people including a paramedic and a rescue worker.
Exhausted emergency service workers covered with blood and dirt doused flames and treated wounded colleagues in the wake of the strike, images distributed by authorities showed.
Local officials said Russian aerial bombardments struck residential buildings and cars leaving at least 14 people dead and wounding another 46 people, including rescuers.
«Russian terror in Odesa is a sign of weakness of the enemy, which is fighting Ukrainian civilians at a time when it cannot guarantee security for people on its own territory,» said Andriy Yermak, a senior government official in Kyiv.
Yermak was apparently referring to a series of fatal Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory and several attempts by pro-Kyiv militias to gain a hold inside Russian border regions this week.
There was no immediate comment on the strikes from Russia, whose forces have routinely targeted the transport hub with drones and missiles.
The strikes came on the first day of presidential elections in Russia, which is also hosting the vote in several occupied regions of Ukraine, angering Kyiv.
Earlier this month, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis came under missile attacks in Odesa, when Russia said it was targeting military facilities at the city's port.
— Kyiv, Moscow exchange barrages -
That bombardment came just days after a dozen
