Missiles struck infrastructure and two residential buildings in Odesa, city officials announced Saturday as the war in Ukraine rages for the 59th day.
Ukraine presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said five people, including a three-month-old infant, were killed.
The city council said they believed the cruise missiles were fired from a TU-95 bomber from the Caspian Sea – more than 900 miles east of the Ukrainian port city.
People stay in a yard as smoke rises in the air in the background after shelling in Odessa, Ukraine, Sunday, April 3, 2022.
People stay in a yard as smoke rises in the air in the background after shelling in Odessa, Ukraine, Sunday, April 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
ZELENSKYY WARNS RUSSIA WILL LIKELY INVADE OTHER COUNTRIES IF SUCCESSFUL IN UKRAINE
Residents in the area have been asked to refrain from taking or posting pictures of the attack.
"Do not help the enemy," the council said in a brief statement.
An adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister said that at least six cruise missiles were fired at the Black Sea port city.
In a Telegram post Saturday, Anton Gerashchenko said that Ukrainian forces shot down several missiles, but noted that at least one landed and exploded.
"Residents of the city heard explosions in different areas," Gerashchenko said. "Residential buildings were hit."
At least one person was reportedly killed.
An Ukrainian soldier is seen as security measures are taken to the highest level in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa due to ongoing Russian attacks on Ukraine on March 8, 2022.
An Ukrainian soldier is seen as security measures are taken to the highest level in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa due to ongoing Russian attacks on Ukraine on March 8, 2022. (Maksym Voitenko/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
RUSSIAN GENERAL SAYS GOAL OF WAR IN UKRAINE IS ‘FULL CONTROL’ OF DONBAS AND SOUTH
The strikes come one day after a Russian general said Moscow’s sights were set for Ukraine’s southern regions sitting on the Black Sea as Russian forces launch their second offensive.
"Since the start of the second phase of the special operation...one of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine," Major General Rustam Minnekaev said.
The offensive would not only create a land bridge connecting the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula to the Donbas but would grant Moscow dominance over all of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
"Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are cases of Russian-speaking people being oppressed," Minnekaev said, in an apparent threat to the neighboring nation of Moldova – roughly 50 miles from Odesa.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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