As of: February 23, 2024, 1:23 p.m
Comments
Press
Split
A sewing factory was destroyed in the attack on the port city of Odessa.
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
The Ukrainian air defense fires heavily at a Russian drone swarm during the night, but cannot prevent a fatal impact.
The consequences are fatal.
Odessa - Russia killed at least three people with drone strikes on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa ahead of the second anniversary of its war of aggression.
According to the authorities, the victims died in the rubble of a completely destroyed industrial building, which also burned down during the night.
“This time nine drones were deployed in the direction of Odessa,” spokeswoman for the southern group of the Ukrainian army, Natalya Humenyuk, told reporters.
She described the nighttime attack as another test of anti-aircraft defenses by the Russian military.
Among other things, Russia has deployed several anti-radar missiles, said Humenyuk.
However, none of these achieved their goal due to poor production quality.
All drones were hit, but one drone that was shot down fell into the industrial area.
“There was a fire in an area of 500 square meters.
Unfortunately, the fight took a long time,” she said.
The three people could not have been saved.
“I heard the drones and the defensive fire.
Then the explosion,” said the facility’s night watchman, Olena Knap, to the German Press Agency at the site of the impact.
Those killed were relatives of the company owner.
They were refugees from eastern Ukraine who lived in the sewing shop.
Hours after the explosion, she herself carries belongings from the guardhouse a few meters in front of the building that was hit, where she survived the impact uninjured.
She climbed out of a window and says: “I was deafened by the bang.”
Anniversary of the start of the war
This Saturday marks the second anniversary of the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion on February 24, 2022, congratulated Russian soldiers on the night of Defender of the Fatherland Day, one of Russia's most important national non-working holidays.
The country repeatedly attacks Ukraine with drone and missile attacks.
Destruction following a drone attack was also reported in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday.
The authorities there published pictures of a damaged high-rise building and eight people were injured.
It was said that a search was underway for people buried under rubble.
According to Ukrainian air defense, a total of 23 of 31 Russian drone attacks were repelled on Friday night, nine of which were in Odessa alone.
The leadership in Kiev is repeatedly calling for more support from the West in expanding air defense in order to be able to better protect the country's cities from attacks with rockets, cruise missiles and drones and thus save more lives.
The gate to the world
Odessa has enormous economic importance for Ukraine.
The port city is logistically the gateway to the world and so attacks in these areas are also part of Russian attempts to cut off Ukraine's foreign trade.
Of Ukraine's 18 seaports, only 6 are currently in operation, said Dmytro Barinov, deputy head of the state port authority, in Odessa.
My news
Russia escalates tensions on the border with Finland and sends thousands of refugees
After the heaviest losses: Ukrainian elite command receives “combat boats” with 1,300 hp
Germany sends another warship to the Red Sea – frigate “Hamburg” with special armament
After Navalny's death: Biden comforts widow Julia - and lets Putin's oligarchs hunt down
Protection from Putin: Skyranger instead of Cheetah - Bundeswehr gets new anti-aircraft tanks
1 hour ago
Russian defector killed in Spain – He probably made a crucial mistake
These include three ports in the Danube region that only allow ships to have a shallow draft of around seven meters.
There are much larger capacities in the three ports in the Odessa area.
“Whenever there is an air raid, the workers go into shelters,” he said.
There have also been targeted attacks, such as last year when a pilot was killed by a rocket hit on the bridge of a merchant ship.
Russia wants to disrupt civilian maritime traffic.
The merchant ships approach Odessa on routes protected from the coast and wait on the other side of the Bosphorus - i.e. in the Sea of Marmara off Istanbul - for their time window to enter.
Oleh Kostjuk, managing director of the Ukrainian logistics group GTI, which deals with Ukraine's grain exports, which are important for the food situation in many countries, emphasized in an interview that the situation is difficult because of the continued attacks on the infrastructure and does not allow large investments.
While the journey of ships can be insured by large companies, this does not apply to the period of loading and storage in the ports.
Planning can only be done for the next few months, not for several years, as is necessary for investments.
He said: “Our industry is not about growth.
It’s about survival.” dpa