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Russian Drones Again Strike Odesa, Injuring 3


Firefighters scrambled to get blazes under control in an overnight strike on Odesa on April 16.
Firefighters scrambled to get blazes under control in an overnight strike on Odesa on April 16.

For at least the third time this year, Russian drones attacked Ukraine's historic port city of Odesa, a UNESCO World Heritage site, injuring three people and setting residential and commercial buildings ablaze.

Meanwhile, glide bomb attacks on Kherson killed one person while the city of Dnipropetrovsk was also struck, causing major fires.

"The enemy has again attacked Odesa with a massive drone attack," said Oleh Kiper, governor of the region, on Telegram following the attack.

Odesa's mayor, Hennadiy Trukhanov, shared images of apartments and other buildings that were heavily damaged.

3 Injured In Russian Drone Strikes On Odesa
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Emergency workers were digging through debris and assessing the extent of destruction in the pre-dawn hours.

Unlike a deadly Russian attack on Odesa in November, April 16's overnight strike on the city was nonfatal and emergency crews managed to have fires there under control quickly.

The city's historic center has seen damage to numerous architectural monuments in repeated attacks, while Russia continues to deny targeting civilian structures.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, war damage has claimed over 1,000 cultural heritage sites.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned the repeated attacks as a "deliberate strike" policy, pledging to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses.

The need for stronger security was underscored on April 13, when some 35 people, including two children, were killed in a Palm Sunday attack on the northeastern city of Sumy, which has drawn international condemnation.

A ballistic missile armed with cluster munitions was used in that attack, which landed on a street crowded with worshipers and others.

Ukraine has also stepped up the pace of its air attacks on Russian cities and oil facilities since March.

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