One killed, 14 injured in Ukraine's Odesa region
A firefighter works at the site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine June 20, 2025. Photo:REUTER
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One person was killed and at least 14 were injured when Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa overnight, damaging high-rise buildings and railway infrastructure, local authorities and prosecutors said on Friday.
Odesa is Ukraine's largest Black Sea port, key for imports and exports, and has been under constant missile and drone attacks by Russia since the war began.
"Despite the active work of air defence forces, there is damage to civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings, a higher education institution, a gas pipeline and private cars," local governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram messenger.
Kiper released photos of burning houses and charred high-rise buildings.
Local emergencies service said that during the attack there were at least 10 drone strikes on residential buildings, causing massive fires.
Ukraine's air force said on Friday that Russia had launched 86 drones on Ukraine overnight.
The military noted its air defence units shot down 34 drones while another 36 drones were lost - in reference to the Ukrainian military using electronic warfare to redirect them - or they were drone simulators that did not carry warheads.
However, the military reported that drones hit 8 locations.
Ukrainian state railways Ukrzaliznytsia reported that Odesa railway station was damaged during the attack, with power wires and rails damaged.
Russian drones also attacked Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine overnight, damaging several private and multi-storey houses, Kharkiv officials said.
Read: Russian strikes kill 14 in Kyiv
Previously, Russia launched dozens of drones and missiles at Kyiv in the early hours of June 17, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens of others, as negotiations faltered between Kyiv and Moscow.
President Volodymyr Zelensky described the latest overnight barrage as "one of the most horrific attacks" on Kyiv since the Kremlin launched its brutal invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago.
Last night, the Russians launched massive attacks on Odesa, Kharkiv, and their outskirts using more than twenty strike drones. Around 20 people were injured, including 2 children – girls aged 12 and 17 – and 3 State Emergency Service workers who had arrived at the scene of the… pic.twitter.com/XlH1lU1Uhf — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 20, 2025
Zelensky said a total of 440 drones and 32 missiles were launched in the strikes nationwide and urged the international community not to "turn a blind eye".
"Our families had a very difficult night. One of the biggest attacks from the very beginning of the war," Zelensky said at the G7 summit in Canada.
"We need support from our allies," he added.
AFP journalists saw smoke billowing over the capital's skyline at dawn and a multiple-storey housing block gutted by the attack. Rescue workers were scrambling to find any survivors buried beneath the rubble.
"It was probably the most hellish night in my memory for our neighbourhood," 20-year-old student Alina Shtompel told AFP.
"It is indescribably painful that our people are going through this right now."
More than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has stepped up attacks despite efforts by the United States to broker a ceasefire.
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