A Russian air strike on residential areas killed at least 21 people early Friday near the Ukrainian port of Odessa, authorities said, a day after Moscow’s withdrawal from a Black Sea island appeared to ease the threat to the city. Video of the pre-dawn attack shows the charred ruins of buildings in the small town of Serhiivka, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Odessa. The Ukrainian president’s office said warplanes fired three missiles that hit an apartment building and a campsite. Ukrainian authorities interpreted the attack as retaliation for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Snake Island a day earlier, although Moscow presented their departure as a “goodwill gesture” to help unblock grain exports. Russian forces seized control of the island in the early days of the war in the apparent hope of using it as a staging ground for an attack on Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port and the headquarters of its navy. “The occupiers cannot win on the battlefield, so they resort to brutal killings of civilians,” said Ivan Bakanov, head of Ukraine’s security service, SBU. “After the enemy was displaced from Snake Island, he decided to respond by cynically bombing civilian targets.” Large numbers of civilians were killed in Russian bombing earlier in the war, including at a hospital, a theater used as a shelter and a train station. Until this week, mass casualties involving residents appeared to be becoming less frequent as Moscow focused on seizing the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. Russian missiles hit the Kiev region last weekend after weeks of relative calm around the capital, and an airstrike on Monday at a shopping center in the central city of Kremenchuk killed at least 19 people. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy expressed outrage at Friday’s attack. “These missiles, Kh-22, were designed to destroy aircraft carriers and other large warships, and the Russian military used them against an ordinary nine-story building with ordinary civilians,” he said. Twenty-one people — including an 11-year-old boy, his mother and the 42-year-old coach of a children’s soccer team — were killed, according to Ukrainian reports. Thirty-eight others, including six children and a pregnant woman, were taken to hospital. Most of the victims were in the apartment building, Ukrainian emergency officials said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Moscow is not targeting residential areas. Oleh Zhdanov, an independent Ukrainian military analyst, said the Russian withdrawal from Snake Island has “colossal psychological significance” for Ukraine. “Snake Island is key to controlling the Black Sea and could help cover a Russian attack if the Kremlin opted for an amphibious landing operation in Odessa or elsewhere in the region,” he said. “Now those plans have been pushed back.” Ukraine’s military claimed that a barrage of its artillery and missiles forced the Russians to leave the island in two small speedboats. The exact number of troops withdrawn was not disclosed. At the beginning of the war, the island became a symbol of Ukrainian disobedience. When a Russian warship demanded its defenders surrender, they allegedly replied, “Go (expletive) yourself.” Zelensky said that although the withdrawal did not guarantee the security of the Black Sea region, it would “significantly reduce” Russian activities there. In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces continued their push to encircle the city of Lysychansk, the last bastion of resistance in Luhansk, one of the two provinces that make up Donbas. “The shelling of the city is very intense,” said Luhansk Governor Serhi Haidai. “The occupiers are destroying one house after another with heavy artillery and other weapons. The residents of Lysychansk are hiding in basements almost around the clock.” Haidai said the Russians were fighting for control of an oil refinery on the edge of town. But Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian and separatist forces were in control of the refinery as well as a mine and a gelatin factory. Ukraine’s presidential office said Russian raids over the past 24 hours also killed civilians in eastern Ukraine — four in the northeastern Kharkiv region and another four in Donetsk province. More help announced for Ukraine match: –The Pentagon said it would provide the country with $820 million in new military aid, including surface-to-air missile systems and anti-aircraft radars to counter Russia’s heavy reliance on long-range strikes. In total, the US has provided more than $8.8 billion in weapons and training to Ukraine. –Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store announced 1 billion euros ($1.04 billion) in aid to Ukraine. In other developments, a pro-Moscow separatist news agency in eastern Ukraine said two more Britons it identified as mercenaries fighting for Ukraine are facing the same charges for which three other foreigners were recently sentenced to death. The news agency identified the couple as Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill, without providing further details. Britain’s SkyNews reported that they had been arrested in eastern Ukraine several weeks ago.
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