KYIV: Russia launched three waves of night-time air attacks against the southern Ukraine port city of Odesa, officials said on Monday, though the Ukrainian air force said it intercepted all 15 incoming Shahed drones and eight Kalibr missiles.
Falling debris from the interceptions damaged the dormitory of an educational facility in the city, a residential building and a supermarket, Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said. Two employees of the supermarket were hospitalised.
The Kremlin’s forces have pummeled Odesa in recent times, aiming at facilities that transport Ukraine’s crucial grain exports and also wrecking cherished Ukrainian historical sites.
The stepped-up barrage followed Moscow’s decision to break off a landmark agreement that had allowed grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia and help reduce the threat of hunger.
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelenskyy-led Ukraine reported fierce fighting along its entire front line and “some success” in pushing back Moscow’s troops in one part of the southeast where Ukrainian forces have been trying to retake occupied territory. Progress has been hampered by widespread Russian-laid minefields and strong fortifications, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said. But the Ukrainian military had pushed forward around the village of Staromaiorske, around 60 miles southwest of Donetsk, and was pressing on two fronts in the south, Maliar said.
A Moscow-installed official in an occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region said Kyiv was attempting to pierce Russian lines by gaining a foothold in both villages.