By
Associated Press
Russian missile strikes on residential areas in a coastal town near the Ukrainian port city of Odessa killed at least 19 people early on Friday, authorities said, a day after Russian forces withdrew from a strategic island. of the Black Sea.
A pre-dawn video of the attack showed the charred remains of buildings in the small town of Serhiivka, located about 31 miles southwest of Odessa.
The Ukrainian president's office said three X-22 missiles launched by Russian bombers hit an apartment building and two camps.
[Before the war, more couples get married in Ukraine. "We don't know what will happen tomorrow," says a girlfriend]
“A terrorist country is killing our people.
In response to battlefield defeats, they fight civilians,” said Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A damaged residential building in Odessa, Ukraine, early Friday, July 1, 2022, following Russian missile strikes. Ukraine Emergency Service via AP
The Ukrainian Security Service said 19 people were killed, including two children, and 38 others, including six children and a pregnant woman, were hospitalized with injuries.
Most of the victims were in the apartment building, Ukrainian emergency officials said.
[“It's Not Easy”: The Odyssey of US Families Hosting Ukrainian Refugees]
The airstrikes followed the withdrawal of Russian forces from Snake Island on Thursday, a move that was expected to reduce the threat to nearby Odessa, home to Ukraine's biggest port.
The island is located along a busy sea route.
Russia seized control of it in the first days of the invasion in February, apparently hoping to use it as a base for an assault on Odessa.
The Kremlin described the departure of Russian troops from Snake Island as a "goodwill gesture" intended to facilitate shipments of grain and other agricultural products to Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Basketball player Brittney Griner appears in court before her trial in Russia
June 27, 202200:33
The Ukrainian military claimed that a barrage of its artillery and missiles forced the Russians to flee in two small speedboats.
The exact number of troops withdrawing has not been disclosed.
Zelenskyy claimed that although the withdrawal does not guarantee the security of the Black Sea region, it will "significantly limit" Russian activities in it.
"Step by step, we will expel (Russia) from our sea, our land, our sky," he said in his late-night speech.
Ukraine's presidential office said a series of Russian strikes in the past 24 hours have also killed civilians in eastern Ukraine: four in the northeastern Kharkiv region and another four in Donetsk province.
Russian bombing killed large numbers of civilians in the early stages of the war, including a hospital and a theater in the port city of Mariupol.
Mass casualties seemed to become more infrequent as Moscow focused on capturing the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Biden calls on G7 allies to close ranks against Russia amid the global crisis over the war in Ukraine
June 27, 202200:19
However, a missile attack on Monday at a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, a city in central Ukraine, killed at least 19 people and wounded 62 others, authorities said on Friday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denied on Thursday that Russian forces had targeted the mall, saying his country does not attack civilian facilities.
