The Ukrainian armed forces issued a warning calling on residents to seek refuge after three explosions and air raid alarms were heard shortly before 1 a.m. local time. Odessa military spokesman Sergei Bratsuk added that an “enemy missile” had struck the southern port city in an update published on its official Telegram channel shortly before 2am. “Unfortunately, there are victims,” he added. Bratschuk later said the rocket attack was carried out by “strategic aircraft” from the direction of the Black Sea. “One rocket hit a nine-story apartment building, the other a recreation center in the Belgorod-Dniester area,” he said. Ukraine’s emergency services (SES) said that by 6 a.m. Friday, 14 people had been killed and 30 injured – including three children – in the attack on the apartment building. Three people – including a child – were killed in a separate attack on a recreation center, with one injured, SES reported. The Guardian could not immediately confirm details of the incident. Earlier this week, two Russian X-22 cruise missiles struck a crowded mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday afternoon, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens more. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the attack was deliberately planned to coincide with the busy hours of the mall and cause the maximum number of casualties. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 1,000 people were inside the building at the time of the strike. The attack comes after Ukrainian forces repelled Russian forces from Snake Island, a strategic Black Sea island off the south coast near the city of Odessa. Russia has described the withdrawal from Snake Island as a “gesture of goodwill”. The Ukrainian military says the Russians left the island in two speedboats after a barrage of Ukrainian artillery and missile raids.
