'Massive' Russian drone attacks on residential buildings in Odesa kill 1, injure 14
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russian forces struck residential buildings in Odesa overnight on June 20, killing a civilian and injuring at least 14 others, including three emergency workers, the Prosecutor General's Office reported.
The attack, which the service described as "massive," rang out around 1 a.m. local time. The attack drones struck over 10 targets, including seven residential buildings, and led to multiple large-scale fires.
At the site of one of the attacks, a 23-story residential building caught fire between the 18th and 20th floors, and led to the evacuation of over 600 people.
In a separate attack on a four-story building within the city, three firefighters were injured when structural elements collapsed on the responders. The building is described as being "completely engulfed in flames," according to the State Emergency Service.
The three injured firefighters are currently hospitalized in stable condition. Additional information on the attacks, as well as casualties, is being clarified as search efforts under rubble and debris continue.
In addition to the buildings, Odesa's main train station also had infrastructure damaged as a result of the drone attack, Ukraine's railway agency Ukrzaliznytsia reported.
Odesa, a port city on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast with a population of around 1 million, has been a frequent target of Russian attacks throughout the full-scale war.
"The overhead contact line and the rail and sleeper grid were affected," the agency wrote in a statement, adding that no injuries had been reported.
On June 10, a missile and drone attack on Odesa killed two people and injured eight.
Russia has continued to increase the frequency and severity of its attacks on Ukrainian cities, while rejecting a ceasefire in Ukraine. Overnight on June 17, Russia launched one of its largest attacks on Kyiv since the start of full-scale war in February 2022, killing 30 people and injuring 172 others.
Olena Goncharova
