Russian strike damages UNESCO-protected sites in Ukraine's Odesa

The city of Odesa in southern Ukraine was the target of a major Russian drone attack on Wednesday night, destroying a nine-storey building and damaging several historic monuments in the old town.

The Russian drone attack damaged UNESCO-protected landmarks, such as Prymorskyi Boulevard and the Pryvoz Market, both part of the historic centre of the Black Sea port city, Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional military administration, said on Telegram.

Various fires broke out in the region as a result of the strikes, including at a nine-storey residential building. At least four people were injured, spokesperson for the State Emergency Service of Odesa, Marina Averina, reported.

Apartments from the fifth to the eighth floors were destroyed, and fires broke out on the fifth and sixth floors. Emergency crews rescued five people trapped in their apartments and evacuated another 33 residents.

Russia also launched attacks in the Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Sumy and Mykolaiv regions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X.

“Yesterday, at the meeting in Istanbul, the proposal for an immediate and full ceasefire was reiterated to the Russian side,” Zelenskyy wrote, adding that in response, Russia had launched numerous attacks at Ukraine.

In Kharkiv, three people were killed and at least 33 were injured, including several children. And overnight attacks at Cherkasy, south-east of Kyiv, sparked several fires and injured at least seven people, according to local media.

Local authorities reported that two powerful explosions went off in the city, resulting in power cuts and interruptions to Internet connections.

Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, reported that the region was targeted by nine Shahed drones during the night, resulting in multiple fires.

The town of Mykolaiv, in the south of the country, also became the target of a drone attack. The head of the Regional Military Administration, Vitalii Kim, said Russia attacked the town with Shahed drones overnight. No casualties have yet been reported.

Ukrainian army targets Russian oil depot

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone struck an oil depot in Sirius, near the Russian city of Sochi, in the Krasnodar region.

The local governor, Veniamin Kondratyev, reported that two people were killed by fallen debris from a drone that had been shot down in Sochi.

“Debris from the drone also fell on the territory of an oil depot. As a result of the attack, 11 people were injured, four were hospitalised,” he wrote on Telegram. These claims could not be independently verified.

The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that 42 Ukrainian drones were intercepted by Russian defence systems on Wednesday night, including seven in the Krasnodar region.