Ukraine: At least 18 dead in Odessa missile attack

Kyiv, Ukraine –

Russian missile attacks on residential buildings in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa on Friday killed at least 18 people, including two children, authorities said, a day after Russian forces withdrew from a strategic sea island Black.

Video of the pre-dawn attack showed the charred remains of buildings in Odessa.

Deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kirill Tymoshenko, said 18 people had died, including two children. A spokesman for the Odessa regional government, Serhiy Bratchuk, said on the Telegram messaging app that 30 other people were injured.

According to Ukrainian reports, the target of the missile attack was a multi-storey apartment building and a recreation area.

The assault comes after Russian forces withdrew from Snake Island on Thursday, potentially easing the threat to Odessa, it was first thought. But they continued their push to encircle the last stronghold of the resistance in the eastern province of Luhansk.

The Kremlin described the removal from Snake Island as a « goodwill gesture ». The Ukrainian military claimed to have forced the Russians to flee in two small speedboats following a barrage of Ukrainian artillery and missile strikes. The exact number of soldiers was not disclosed.

Snake Island sits along a busy shipping lane. Russia took control of it in the early days of the war in the apparent hope of using it as staging ground for an assault on Odessa.

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