2023-07-23 08:16:06
Russian forces again struck the Ukrainian port city of Odessa overnight from Saturday to Sunday, killing one person. An attack which occurs a few hours before a meeting between Vladimir Putin and the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a faithful ally of Moscow.
In this night attack on Odessa, whose historic center was listed at the beginning of the year as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, “a civilian” was killed, Governor Oleg Kiper wrote early this Sunday on Telegram. He reported a “Russian attack at 3 o’clock” which caused “18 victims including four children. Fourteen people were transferred to hospitals in the city, three were children”, specifying that the help was on the spot.
According to the Ukrainian army’s Southern Operational Command, the air defenses shot down a “significant” share of Russian missiles, of five different types, including Kalibrs.
Damaged monuments
The unintercepted projectiles caused “damage to the port infrastructure, to at least six residences including apartment buildings”, detailed the army, adding that a missile had hit the Orthodox cathedral in the city center. According to a video reposted by the city hall on its Telegram channel, the Odessa Transfiguration Cathedral was damaged.
“Two architectural monuments” suffered damage during this attack, which also caused “power cuts”, continued the army. The latter reported 19 injuries, including four children.
In total, the Ukrainian military reported “four missile strikes, 58 airstrikes and 81 attacks from multiple rocket launcher systems” overnight. The head of the presidential administration, Andriy Yermak called for “more defense missile systems” and tactical missiles for Ukraine.
Planted on the shores of the Black Sea, Odessa is a strategic city for maritime transit in the region and is regularly targeted by Russian strikes. During the night from Thursday to Friday, Russian Kalibr-type cruise missiles, fired from the sea, hit the region, marking a fourth consecutive night of attacks, according to Governor Kiper. And during the previous night, drones and missiles had struck Odessa and Mykolaiv, another large city in southern Ukraine, killing at least three people and injuring around 20.
kyiv has accused Moscow of specifically targeting port infrastructure to prevent any possible resumption of Ukrainian grain exports. Unesco “strongly condemned” Friday Russian strikes against “several museums” and historic buildings in the center.
Meeting between Putin and Lukashencko
This attack comes the day after a Ukrainian drone attack that blew up an ammunition depot in Crimea. The surrounding population had to be evacuated and rail traffic suspended. The death of a Russian journalist in a Ukrainian bombardment also aroused the ire of the Kremlin, which had denounced a “heinous crime” and promised a “response” to those responsible for this attack.
This Sunday, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko are to meet in Saint Petersburg (northwest). The two leaders have planned in particular to discuss the “strategic partnership and alliance” between Moscow and Minsk, according to the terms of a press release published Friday by the Kremlin.
Alexander Lukashenko was introduced as the mediator between the Kremlin and Yevgeny Prigojine almost a month ago during the abortive Wagner rebellion in Russia and this is the first meeting between the two men since.
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