Russia carried out a “massive” attack against the Odessa region in southern Ukraine, with authorities reporting Monday morning one person injured and significant damage, with Moscow claiming for its part to have shot down several drones launched by Kiev.
Moscow “attacked the Odessa region with offensive drones and two types of missiles,” Governor Oleg Kiper explained on Telegram, mentioning several “strikes” including the attack on “port infrastructure.”
“A civilian was injured by a shock wave,” added Mr. Kiper, specifying that the victim had been transferred to hospital.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russia directed 19 Iranian-made Shahed drones and two Onyx supersonic missiles against the city of Odessa. Twelve other Kalibr missiles were fired “with complex trajectories in different areas,” said the same source, noting that a submarine was also mobilized.
All the drones and 11 Kalibr were shot down by air defenses, the army continued, indicating that the seaside resort of Odessa had suffered “significant” damage.
Two of the 11 Kalibr missiles destroyed were in the regions of Mykolaiv (south) and Kirovograd (center), but the “vast majority” were above that of Odessa, the army said.
An Onyx projectile hit an “empty” grain warehouse at the port of Odessa, said Natalya Gumenyuk, an army spokeswoman who called the Russian attack “massive.”
The army also reported other warehouses and businesses damaged by falling debris in the city’s suburbs.
Russian forces regularly target this region of southern Ukraine overlooking the Black Sea – like its neighbor Mykolaiv – where crucial port infrastructure for maritime trade is located.
Attacks have increased since the abandonment in July of the grain agreement which allowed Ukraine to freely export its production.
On Sunday, however, a second cargo of Ukrainian wheat arrived in Istanbul via the Black Sea using a maritime corridor set up by Kiev despite threats from Moscow to attack boats entering and leaving Ukraine.
Also during the night from Sunday to Monday, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Kryvyi Rig was attacked according to local authorities, with Governor Serguii Lysak writing on Telegram that the air defense had “worked against enemy drones”.
The head of the military administration of Kryvyi Rig, Oleksandr Vilkoul, spoke to him of “a downed drone”, the falling debris having caused a fire – which has since been extinguished – without causing any casualties.
Drones shot down in Russia
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram that four Ukrainian drones had been destroyed over the annexed Crimean peninsula and the northwest Black Sea.
Two other drones were shot down over the Kursk region, according to the same source.
“There are no casualties”, but an administrative building suffered damage, noted regional governor Roman Starovoyt, assuring that the “air defense worked”.
In the neighboring region of Bryansk, just to the north, Governor Alexandre Bogomaz counted three Ukrainian aerial drones shot down, including two in the Souraj district (west), without reporting any casualties or damage.
The Ministry of Defense mentioned two drones destroyed in the Bryansk region.
This article is originally published on arabnews.fr
