[1/5] A view shows an apartment building damaged during a massive Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, on June 10, 2023, in Odesa, Ukraine. News Service of the Southern Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine/Manual via REUTERS
KYIV/ODESA, Ukraine, June 10 (Reuters) – Russia fired missiles and drones at targets across Ukraine early on Saturday, killing three civilians in the Black Sea city of Odesa and hitting a military airbase in the central Poltava region. Kiev officials said.
A 29-year-old man was also killed in the northeastern Kharkiv region, according to officials, the latest in a series of overnight strikes that have intensified as Russia sets its sights on a major counteroffensive.
Eight missiles and 35 strike drones were involved in the strikes, the Air Force said. Air defense units managed to shoot down 20 drones and two cruise missiles.
“As a result of aerial combat, debris from one of the drones fell on a high-rise apartment building, which caused a fire,” Natalia Humenyuk, a spokeswoman for the Southern Military Command, said of the attack on Odessa.
Firefighters battled through the night to put out the blaze at a 10-storey block in a residential area of the city, footage released by the military showed.
Morning light revealed a crater several meters wide and a children’s playground next to the damaged building, a Reuters photographer said.
Authorities said three people were killed, including a couple who lived on the eighth floor of the building and a man who was outside during the attack.
At least 27 people, including three children, were injured, emergency services said.
The first drone strike came in the middle of the night, followed by three more. Air raid sirens sounded repeatedly throughout the night.
Russia fired drones and ballistic and cruise missiles into the Poltava region, causing “some damage to infrastructure and equipment” at the Myrorod military airfield, the regional governor said.
Ten drones struck two parts of Kharkiv region, which borders Russia and retreated to the front line, wounding a 39-year-old man and killing the governor, Oleh Sinehupov.
Ukraine shot down two drones in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where no damage was caused, its governor, Serhiy Lizak, said.
Report by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Frances Kerry
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