Russian strike on Ukraine’s Odesa leaves one dead, 22 wounded

The blast left four children wounded and severely damaged the historic Transfiguration Cathedral, a landmark Orthodox cathedral in Odesa

Odesa: Russia struck the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa again on Sunday, local officials said, keeping up a barrage of attacks that damaged critical port infrastructure in southern Ukraine in the past week. At least one person was killed and 22 others wounded in the attack in the early hours. Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said that four children were among those wounded in the blasts, which severely damaged the historic Transfiguration Cathedral, a landmark Orthodox cathedral in the city.

Russia has been launching persistent attacks on Odesa, a key hub for exporting grain, since Moscow cancelled a landmark grain deal on Monday amid Kyiv’s grinding efforts to retake its occupied territories. Kiper noted that six residential buildings, including apartment buildings, were destroyed by the strikes. In one such case in downtown Odesa, some people became trapped in their apartments as a result of the damage caused by the attack, which left rubble strewn in the street and partly blocking the road, and damage to power lines.

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Odesa’s historic centre was designated an endangered World Heritage Site by the United Nations’ cultural agency, UNESCO, earlier this year, despite Russian opposition. Russia’s Defence Ministry said Sunday that Russian forces had attacked sites in Odesa, “where terrorist acts against the Russian Federation were being prepared.” The Ministry said in a statement that the strikes were carried out with sea- and air-based long-range high-precision weapons, and that there are “foreign mercenaries” at the targeted sites.

Earlier Russian attacks this week crippled significant parts of export facilities in Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk and destroyed 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukraine‘s Agriculture Ministry. The attacks come days after President Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime deal that enabled Ukraine’s exports to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger. Putin vowed to retaliate against Kyiv for an attack Monday on the crucial Kerch Bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014.