Port bears brunt of missile and drone onslaught, with grain and oil terminal, market and storage said to have been hit
Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa has endured a second “hellish night” of attacks, with loud explosions audible throughout the city in the early hours of Wednesday and at least one missile landing within the city limits, as Russia targeted grain facilities and port infrastructure.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 63 missiles and drones at various targets across the country, of which 37 had been shot down, suggesting that more of Russia’s missiles got through air defences than has been the case in recent weeks.
Odesa bore the brunt of the onslaught; the attack on the city was “very powerful, truly massive”, Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the Odesa military administration, said on his Telegram channel on Wednesday. “It was a hellish night,” he added.
On Wednesday morning, residents inspected a huge crater close to a dormitory building located across the street from a grain facility not far from central Odesa. An investigator on the scene said it had most likely been caused by an Oniks, designed as an anti-ship cruise missile.
Windows in the dormitory, as well as a courthouse across the street, were blown out, but remarkably people on the scene said there had been no casualties in the strike.
There were reports of injuries in other strikes, including a nine-year-old boy who was treated for injuries caused by shattered glass and other debris.
One strike hit a wholesale market and storage facility just outside the city.
