Ukraine said Friday that Russian forces had pounded the Black Sea port city of Odesa with missiles, killing more than a dozen people including a paramedic and a rescue worker.
Journalists on the scene saw bodies covered by blankets arrayed on the street while images from officials showed exhausted emergency service workers smeared with blood and dirt dousing flames and treating wounded colleagues.
Local authorities said Russian aerial bombardments struck residential buildings, cars and a gas pipeline leaving at least 16 people dead and wounding another 55 people, including rescuers.
“Russian terror in Odesa is a sign of weakness of the enemy, which is fighting Ukrainian civilians at a time when it cannot guarantee security for people on its own territory,” said Andriy Yermak, a senior government official in Kyiv.
Yermak was apparently referring to a series of fatal Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory and several attempts by pro-Kyiv militias to gain a hold inside Russian border regions this week.
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