At least five civilians – including a three-month-old baby – were killed on Saturday after Russian forces fired several cruise missiles at Odessa, Ukraine’s largest Black Sea port.
The rockets hit residential buildings, said Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff – who added that more deaths were likely.
“Nothing is sacred,” Yermak wrote on Telegram about the attack, which took place during Eastern Orthodox observance of Holy Saturday. “Evil will be punished.”
The BBC Video footage posted thick black smoke billowed from a 14-story apartment building after the strike as rescue workers tended to residents with head injuries.
A resident told reporters he and his elderly mother were forced to jump out of a second-story window to escape.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba condemned the attack on a city that has – so far – escaped the worst of Russia’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine.
“The sole aim of the Russian missile attacks on Odessa is terror,” Kuleba said posted on Twitter. “Russia must be declared a state sponsor of terrorism… We need a wall between civilization and barbarians who will attack peaceful cities with rockets.”
The strike in the key port city confirmed Zelenskyy’s warning that Putin had his sights set on Moldova, the breakaway Soviet state west of Odessa.
“We’re the first in line. And who’s next?” Zelenskyy asked in his nightly speech on Friday.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/23/russian-missiles-hit-odessa-apartment-blocks-killing-5/ Russian missiles hit apartment blocks in Odessa, killing 5