Odessa “has long been considered a target for the Russian military, remind him Washington Post, as it is an economically vital port, but with Moscow’s ground forces unable to advance beyond Mykolaiv, about [100 kilomètres] to the east, Odessa was largely spared from attack. Local businesses and even the zoo had reopened last week.”
On Sunday April 3, many journalists present in the region reported that plumes of smoke were rising in the sky of Odessa, reports the American channel CNBC, and the city’s council said an airstrike had targeted infrastructure.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, sea and air missiles destroyed an oil refinery and three fuel storage facilities. A Ukrainian military source quoted by The Kyiv Independent affirm that some of the missiles were shot down by air defense.
On Twitter, a reporter from the British channel ITV publishes images filmed on Sunday morning, evoking “at least five distinct points of impact”.
As Ukrainian forces continue to counterattack north and around kyiv, “analysts believe that the next phase of the war will be primarily a battle for southeastern Ukraine, Write the Washington Post, which does not exclude attacks on other regions, especially from the air”.
The blockade imposed by the Russian naval forces in the Black Sea preventing Ukrainian supplies by sea, “it is feared that Odesa will suffer the same fate as Mariupol [dans la région de Donetsk, à l’est de l’Ukraine] and suffered the assaults of the Russian navy, the Kremlin seeking to refocus its forces on securing coastal areas, continues The Times.” The “Pearl of the Black Sea” is the last major city between the Russian advance in the Kherson region, further east, and the border with Romania (member of NATO), to the west.
Also according to the British daily, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to send to Ukraine anti-ship missiles for the defense of Odessa, “in the same way that the Ukrainian forces were supplied with anti-tank weapons”. “It is not tanks that will arrive in Odessa but ships, summarizes a government source quoted by the newspaper. Les NLAW [missiles antichar portables] do not work against ships. Ukrainians want the kind of stuff that can destroy ships.”
According to The Times, Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky notably asked Westerners for Harpoon anti-ship missiles, “which can strike ships up to 130 km away”.