A “double thrust” Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa killed at least 14 people and wounded 46 others, including emergency workers who rushed to the scene to rescue the first victims, local officials said.
The two strike waves early Friday experienced a missile hit houses before a second detonated in the same location as emergency crews arrived on the scene, authorities said.
Among those killed were a paramedic and an emergency worker, with pictures from the scene showing victims lying in pools of blood and firefighters covered in dust.
At least 10 houses in Odesa were damaged in the attack, which started a fire, according to Ukraine’s emergency services and regional governor Oleh Kiper, which firefighters battled despite the looming threat.
Bodies covered the streets of the residential area early after the brutal attack by Vladimir Putin’s forces, and a day of mourning has been declared in Odesa Oblast on March 16.
A firefighter, covered in dust and bleeding, sits against a tree after the brutal attack
Emergency services work at the scene of a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, March 15
Fires raged at the scene of the attack, with rescue workers struggling to bring them under control
Medical personnel provide assistance to a wounded rescuer after a missile attack in Odesa
The tactic of firing a second missile at the same location, aiming to hit rescuers, is known in military terms as a double push.
Such attacks often target civilians, as was the case today, and it is a method Russia has used in the past with devastating consequences.
Last August, two Iskander missiles hit the center of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, killing nine, including civilians, a first responder and a soldier.
The number of injured exceeded 80 in the double strike, which hit 12 high-rise buildings, a hotel, a pharmacy, shops and cafes, according to Ukrainian authorities, who blamed Russia.
Civilian deaths have continued to rise amid Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Overnight, two people were killed and three injured in Ukraine’s central Vinnytsia region after Russia hit a building with a drone, according to regional governor Serhii Borzov.
An injured rescuer was left covered in dirt and with a large tear in his jacket after the chaos
Firefighters tackle a blaze amid rubble after the ‘double tap’ attack destroyed ‘at least 10’ houses
Rescuers carry a wounded colleague at the site of the Russian missile attack
The Ukrainian Air Force said it shot down all 27 Shahed drones that Russia launched over the Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Khmelnytskyi and Kyiv regions.
The attack came as Russians voted in a presidential election that will almost certainly extend Vladimir Putin’s rule for another six years.
The election comes amid a ruthless Kremlin crackdown that has crippled independent media and prominent rights groups, giving Putin full control of the political system as Moscow’s war in Ukraine enters its third year.
Voters cast their ballots from Friday to Sunday at polling stations throughout the country’s 11 time zones, as well as in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine.
Ukraine and the West have also condemned Russia for holding the vote in Ukrainian regions captured and occupied by Moscow’s forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin must secure another six-year term in the Kremlin
In many ways, Ukraine is at the heart of this election, say political analysts and opposition figures.
Putin wants to use his all-but-certain election victory as evidence that the public supports his handling of the war, which he continues to refer to as a ‘special military operation’.
Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Kyiv’s forces on one side and pro-Russian Ukrainians and Russian proxies on the other.
Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed and many more wounded on both sides, thousands of Ukrainian civilians have died, and Ukraine’s economy and infrastructure have suffered hundreds of billions of dollars in damage.