KYIV, Ukraine: The Ukrainian port city of Odessa was hit by a renewed Russian missile attack early Sunday, just hours before President Vladimir Putin was due to hold a summit with his staunch Belarusian ally Alexander Lukashenko.
At the meeting in St. Petersburg, the pair plan to discuss the “strategic partnership and alliance” between their countries, according to the Kremlin.
It will be the first time they have met since Lukashenko helped put an end to a dramatic mutiny by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group.
A few hours before their meeting, Russian strikes were aimed at Odessa, which had been bombed several times since the beginning of the invasion.
“Unfortunately, we have one civilian killed as a result of the overnight terrorist attack by the Russians in Odessa,” regional governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.
It earlier reported “18 casualties, including four children” in the Russian attack at 3:00 a.m. (0000 GMT).
“14 people were hospitalized in city hospitals, including three children,” he said.
Ukraine’s Southern Operations Command said Odessa was targeted by at least five types of missiles, including Kalibr cruise missiles.
“Air defense forces destroyed a significant number of missiles,” it said.
“The rest caused damage to port infrastructure,” and several buildings, it said, adding that the missile hit the Orthodox cathedral in the city center.
The Transfiguration Orthodox Cathedral in Odessa was damaged, according to a video posted by the city hall on its Telegram channel.
Nineteen people, including four children, were injured in the overnight attack, the military said.
The strategic port has come under repeated attack after Moscow pulled out of a grain export deal last week.
After the latest attack on Odessa, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Jermak, repeated Kiev’s call for more missiles and defense systems.
“The enemy must be deprived of the ability to hit civilians and infrastructure. More anti-missile defense systems, as well as ATACMS – this will help Ukraine,” he said in Telegram, referring to the long-range tactical missiles that Kiev wants to supply to Washington.
Odessa has been bombed several times since the beginning of the invasion, and in January the UN cultural agency UNESCO designated the city’s historic center as a World Heritage Site in Danger.
Kyiv has accused Russia of targeting grain supplies and infrastructure vital to any resumption of Ukrainian grain exports.
Moscow says it only targeted military facilities.
The Odesa attack came a day after a Ukrainian drone strike blew up an ammunition depot in Crimea, forcing the evacuation of the surrounding population and the temporary suspension of rail services on the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Moscow also blamed the West and Kyiv for the death of a Russian war correspondent in the southern Zaporozhye region, saying he was killed by cluster munitions and vowing “retaliation” against those responsible.
The attack was aimed at “military installations”, a source in the Ukrainian army told AFP.
The Russian attack on Odessa came just days after Moscow said its forces conducted live-fire drills using cruise missiles in the Black Sea, where tensions have risen since the expiration of a key export deal that allowed grain to be safely transported from Ukrainian ports.
Northeast of Odessa, in the Zaporizhia region, where Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is located, Russian forces repelled “three attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the direction of Rabotino,” the Russian news agency TASS said, citing the head of the forces’ press center, Oleg Chekhov.
He said Ukrainian “tanks, infantry fighting vehicles” and personnel were “destroyed”.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was occupied by Russian forces in the early days of the invasion.
