At least 10 people have been killed after a Russian missile hit an apartment building in Odessa, Ukrainian officials said.
The rocket attack reportedly took place in the early hours of Friday morning in the southern region of the country.
“The death toll in the rocket attack on the apartment building has risen to 10,” said Sergei Bratchuk, spokesman for the military government of Odessa, adding that the rocket was fired by planes from the Black Sea.
“A missile hit a nine-storey residential building,” the military said, adding that another missile had hit a recreation center.
“In an apartment building, nine floors of one section have been completely destroyed… Rescuers have already provided medical care to seven injured, including three children.”
The southern region of Odessa is a strategic focal point, as it is home to Ukraine’s historic port of the same name.
Pictured: At least ten people have been killed after a Russian missile hit a nine-storey apartment building in Odessa, a major port in the country, Ukrainian officials said.
It comes a day after a separate Russian missile strike destroyed a residential building in the southern city of Mykolaiv on Wednesday.
The blast left at least seven dead and five injured as the rescue operation continues.
Shocking video footage, from Wednesday, showed a rocket hitting the top corner of the block, causing flames to rip through the top floor and completely destroy the top part of the building.
Hours later, Russian President Vladimir Putin angrily denied that his forces attacked civilian infrastructure – days after Ukraine said Russian missiles killed at least 18 people at a shopping center in the central city of Kremenchuk.
Russian President Putin tried to deny his military was responsible for the rocket attack on the mall earlier this week, leaving dozens more missing.
“Our military is not attacking any civilian infrastructure site. We have every possibility to know what is where,” Putin told a news conference in the Turkmenistan capital Ashgabat.
Destruction: At least seven people have been killed in a Russian rocket attack on a block of houses in the southern city of Mykolaiv (pictured), Ukraine, local authorities have said
Spectators gather as the mall is engulfed in flames shortly after it was hit by two Russian guided missiles on Monday, while an estimated 1,000 people were inside
“None of us shoot randomly, randomly. It is normally done on the basis of “target intelligence” and “high-precision weapons”.
“I am convinced that this time everything has been done exactly this way,” Putin said.
The Russian autocrat attended the VI Caspian Summit of leaders from Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to discuss “current issues of cooperation in the Caspian Sea.”
It was feared as many as 1,000 people were inside when it was hit.
It comes after Russian forces hastily left Snake Island yesterday as another blow to Putin’s invasion, just days after Ukrainian forces launched a crippling missile attack on the outpost.
Snake Island became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the early days of the war, when the rock’s defenders told a Russian warship calling on them to surrender to “fuck yourself,” an incident that sparked a defiant meme.
Ukraine crushed the Russian garrison on Snake Island again on June 20-21, just days after he dealt a “significant” blow to Putin’s Black Sea forces with an attack on the crucial outpost
It was also a strategic target, as it was adjacent to shipping lanes near the Ukrainian port of Odessa. Russia had attempted to install missiles and air defense batteries while under fire from drones.
Now, however, Ukraine has begun to receive long-range missiles and military equipment from its Western backers, and Russia’s position on Snake Island appears to have become untenable, officials said.
The statement from Russia’s Defense Ministry described the withdrawal as “a goodwill gesture,” intended to demonstrate that Moscow will not interfere in UN efforts to organize protected grain exports from Ukraine, but Kiev claimed it was a was victory.
“I thank the defenders of the Odessa region who took maximum measures to liberate a strategically important part of our territory,” Valeriy Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, said on Telegram.