Russian attacks Odesa and Dnipro; Ukraine strikes Belgorod region
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A Ukrainian rescuer at the site of an air attack in Odesa on May 18. Officials said Russia launched strikes at Ukraine overnight, hitting residential buildings, a school and a kindergarten in Odesa.
PHOTO: AFP
ODESA, Ukraine - Russia struck the Ukrainian cities of Odesa and Dnipro in missile and drone attacks that damaged residential buildings and injured dozens of people, and Russian officials reported two deaths in Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia.
After more than four years of war since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, peace efforts have stalled and each side accuses the other of regularly attacking military, civilian and energy targets as the conflict drags on.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 524 drones and 22 missiles in attacks that began early on the evening of May 17 and continued overnight. The attacks followed a heavy Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow at the weekend.
Regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said apartment blocks, a religious institution and a university were damaged, and posted photos online showing a building with shattered balconies and firefighters dousing flames.
“Russia relies on ballistic missiles to strike people, and that is precisely why we in Europe must do everything possible to ensure reliable protection against this,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media platform X after what he said was a more than six-hour attack on Dnipro and the region.
Ukrainian energy firm Naftogaz said drones had struck several of its facilities in the region overnight.
Russian drones also damaged residential buildings, a school and a kindergarten in the major Black Sea export port of Odesa, said Mr Serhiy Lysak, the head of the local military administration, adding that an 11-year-old boy and a 59-year-old man were injured.
Reuters television video footage showed the damaged facade of a historical building near Odesa port.
Local resident Olena, 54, said: “I was raised in this building and I’m never going to leave it. Today, I sat down and started crying, I kept saying ‘my home is on fire, my home is on fire’.”
Russian drones hit three foreign-flagged ships in the Black Sea heading to ports in the Odesa region on May 18, including a Chinese-owned cargo vessel, the Ukrainian authorities said.
In Russia, drones were downed overnight in the southern regions of Rostov and Belgorod, Interfax news agency quoted the defence ministry as saying. Two people were killed and two injured in Belgorod region, the local authorities said.
Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians, although cities, towns and villages across Ukraine have suffered heavy damage and many civilians have been killed.
At least four people died over the weekend, three of them in the Moscow region, after Ukraine launched its biggest overnight drone attack on the Russian capital in more than a year, officials said on May 17. REUTERS
