At least 17 people were killed and numerous others were injured early today when Russian missiles targeted a nine-story apartment building and a resort facility close to the Ukrainian Black Sea town of Odesa, according to Ukrainian authorities.
According to the Ukrainian emergency ministry, the missile impacted the building in the town of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi at around one in the morning (2200 GMT) on Thursday. In addition, it resulted to a fire in a nearby store building.
The Odesa regional administration's spokeswoman, Serhiy Bratchuk, told Ukrainian state television that a rescue effort was in progress since some inpiduals were still buried under the debris after a portion of the structure fell.
According to Bratchuk, another missile struck a resort complex, injuring numerous inpiduals.
Details of the incident could not be independently verified by Reuters.
It followed Russia's announcement yesterday that it would leave Snake Island as a "gesture of goodwill" to demonstrate that Moscow was not impeding UN efforts to build a humanitarian corridor that would allow grains to be transferred from Ukraine.
Following an artillery and missile attack, Ukraine claimed to have forced Russian forces off the rocky outcrop. President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the tactical success.
Security is not yet guaranteed. In his nightly video message, he stated that it "does not yet guarantee that the enemy would not return. But this greatly restricts what the occupants can do. We shall gradually drive them away from our sea, land, and sky. However, in the city of Lysychansk, Ukrainian forces were clinging to life by a thread.
Regional Governor Serhiy Gaidai claimed on Ukrainian television that Russian artillery pounded the area from many angles while the Russian troops came from other locations.
According to Zelensky, "the occupiers' superiority in fire power is still very much in evidence." "They have just gathered all of their forces to attack us."
Since taking Sievierodonetsk, on the other side of the Siverskyi Donets River, last week after weeks of fierce warfare, Russian forces have been attempting to encircle Lysychansk.
Residents of Sievierodonetsk have come out of their basements and are searching among the debris of their destroyed city in an effort to rebuild.
"The city's infrastructure has almost all been devastated. Since May, we have been without gas, power, and water, a 65-year-old resident named Sergei Oleinik told Reuters. We are relieved that this is over, and maybe soon, building will begin, allowing us to resume our more or less usual lives.
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