ODESA, Ukraine — At least eight people, including a 3-month-old baby, were killed in missile strikes in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, the country’s top presidential adviser said Saturday.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in a Telegram post that two missile strikes from Russian troops struck a residential area in the city, The Washington Post reported.
“Nothing is sacred,” Yermak wrote. “Evil will be punished.”
Update 2:59 p.m. EDT April 23: Odesa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov said in a Telegram video that the death toll from the Russian missile strike on the city had risen to at least eight people, The New York Times reported. In a video he filmed in front of a damaged apartment building, Trukhanov said that Russia’s Defense Ministry “(calls) an apartment building a military installation.”
Original report: Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, said Russian forces launched at least six cruise missiles at Odesa.
“City residents heard the blasts in different districts of the city. These were the rockets strikes as well as the work of our air-defense system,” Gerashchenko said, according to CNN and The Associated Press.
At least 18 people were wounded in the attack, The New York Times reported. It was the first missile strike in the city since early April, according to the newspaper.
According to Ukraine’s air force, missiles hit two apartment buildings and a military facility Saturday afternoon, the Post reported. A video shared on social media and verified by the newspaper and the BBC showed large plumes of smoke billowing from a tall building near a grassy area.
“The only aim of Russian missile strikes on Odesa is terror,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, tweeted Saturday. “Russia must be designated a state sponsor of terrorism and treated accordingly. No business, no contacts, no cultural projects. We need a wall between civilization and barbarians striking peaceful cities with missiles.”
Odesa City Council Deputy Petro Obukhov called the missile strikes “Easter gifts from Putin” in a Telegram post, according to CNN.
Many Ukrainians celebrate Easter according to the Julian calendar, with Easter Sunday falling this year on April 24, the news organization reported.
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