Rescuers comb through the rubble of a multistory apartment building that was hit during a Russian drone attack in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Saturday. Five people, including a child, were killed and eight injured in the attack. Photo courtesy Ukrainian State Emergency Service/Facebook
Five people were killed and eight were injured Saturday during a Russian drone attack in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, part of a larger overnight assault across the country, according to emergency officials.
Those killed included one child, another child was injured and five people were rescued from the rubble of a multistory apartment building that was struck at 3 a.m. local time by Russian “kamikaze” drones, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service reported. Advertisement
The high-rise building was seriously damaged and part of it collapsed in the attack, Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov said in a Telegram post. Utility networks and the building’s boiler house were also damaged, he said.
The attack knocked out heat supplies to 11 houses, a school and a kindergarten, he said.
The strike on the apartment building came as part of aerial assault launched during the overnight hours of Saturday in which Ukrainian air defense missile units and mobile fire groups destroyed 14 Shahed drones heading toward Odesa, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and several other cities, according to state television. Advertisement
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack demonstrated the need for more air defenses.
“We need more air defense systems from partners. We need to strengthen the Ukrainian air shield to add protection for our people against Russian terror. More ADS systems, more missiles for ADS — this is what saves lives,” he wrote in a social media post.
