When the incident occurred, Zelensky and the Greek Prime Minister were visiting the Ukrainian port city of Odessa.
Kyiv:
A Russian missile launched a deadly attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa on Wednesday, appearing to land near the convoy of President Volodymyr Zelensky and the visiting Greek Prime Minister, who described the “intense” moments of the surprise attack .
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Zelensky was taking him to visit the port of Odessa, a key outlet for Ukraine’s cross-Black Sea exports, when “we heard the alarm.”
“Shortly after, as we entered the vehicle, we heard a loud explosion,” he said.
“We didn’t have time to get to the shelter. It was a very stressful experience,” Mitsotakis said through an interpreter in Odessa.
The attack on port infrastructure killed five people and injured an unknown number, the Ukrainian navy told AFP.
Ukraine has stepped up its own attacks behind Russia’s rear, killing a Russian election official with an apparent car bomb and striking a metal factory with a drone.
Russia and Ukraine have increased airstrikes as Moscow’s troops advance toward the front lines and Kiev faces manpower and weapons shortages.
Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk confirmed that the attack took place while a Greek delegation was visiting the port of Odessa with Zelensky.
A spokesman for the White House in Washington said, “It appears (the rocket) landed near the convoy.”
In Rome, Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni expressed “full condemnation of the Odessa attack” during the meeting.
But the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have attacked “a hangar in the commercial port area of Odessa, where uncrewed speedboats were being prepared for combat use by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
Just days earlier, a Russian drone struck an apartment building in the same Black Sea city, killing 12 people, including five children, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in weeks.
As the White House works to end Republican obstruction of new U.S. aid to Ukraine, President Joe Biden’s National Security Council spokesman said the Odessa attack showed an “urgent need” to deliver weapons.
“This attack is yet another reminder that Russia continues to recklessly attack Ukraine every day.”
– car bomb –
Meanwhile, authorities in the Russian-occupied city of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine blamed Kiev for a car bombing they said killed a local election official.
“A homemade explosive device was planted under the car of a member of the constituency electoral committee,” the investigative committee said in a statement.
“The victim succumbed to his injuries,” it added, posting a video of a bombed-out beige car parked on a dirt road.
The attack comes as early voting begins across occupied Ukraine for this month’s Russian presidential election.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the Moscow-appointed head of the Zaporozhye region, blamed Ukrainian authorities for the attack and said they were trying to “intimidate” residents ahead of the vote.
Many Russian appointees have been targeted since Moscow launched a sweeping military campaign in Ukraine two years ago.
Russia also said Ukraine hit a fuel tank at a metal factory in Russia’s Kursk region in an early morning drone strike.
Roman Starovoyt, governor of the Kursk region, said: “A drone attacked fuel and lubricants at the Mikhailovsky mining and processing plant in the city of Zheleznogorsk. Warehouse,” located about 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
Videos posted on Russian social media showed raging fires and thick smoke billowing from the cylindrical fuel storage tanks.
– fortifications –
Ukrainian forces have launched a wave of drone attacks on Russian energy facilities in recent months in an attempt to target the country’s vital energy and gas sectors, which Kyiv says fueled the invasion.
At the same time, Russian officials said that Ukraine shelled the town of Kremina in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, killing two people.
Five other people were killed when a bus drove over a mine in Kirovsk, also in Luhansk, the Moscow-appointed head of the region said.
Luhansk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia claims it will annex in 2022, along with Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye.
The region has been at war since Russia-backed separatists tried to break away from the region in 2014 following a pro-EU revolution in Kiev.
On the front line, Ukrainian forces said on Wednesday they had established an “extensive defense system” near the town of Advivka, which was captured by Russia last month, to halt further Russian advances.
The obstruction of Western aid, mainly a major $60 billion package from the United States, has left the Ukrainian army in a weak position, forced to ration ammunition and unable to launch a large-scale offensive.
-“Active War Zone”-
Russian President Vladimir Putin also held talks with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi in Sochi to discuss the situation at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.
The facility, Europe’s largest nuclear energy facility, was seized by Russian forces in the first days of the war.
In an interview with AFP before the meeting, Grossi rejected Russia’s suggestion that the plant resume operations.
“First of all, this is an active war zone and that cannot be forgotten. Secondly, this factory has been closed for a long time,” he told AF
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
