Images of the tragedy show rescuers in a state of shock, their eyes lost and their hands stained with blood.
A Russian missile strike left at least 14 dead and 46 injured this Friday in Odessa, a port city in southern Ukraine, according to a latest report revised upwards and communicated by the regional governor, Oleg Kiper.
“A Russian missile attack killed 14 people, including residents, a paramedic and a rescuer,” he said on Telegram, adding that 46 other people were injured, including seven emergency service workers.
Residential buildings and vehicles were hit, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor's office.
According to the regional governor, the ambulance driver and the rescuer had “arrived on the scene after a first explosion to provide assistance”.
Seven rescuers were hit in this attack.
A couple killed in another region
Ukrainian police announced earlier that Russian drone attacks overnight had killed a couple and injured two teenagers in the Vinnytsia region (Central-West).
“A 52-year-old man was killed and his 53-year-old wife died in hospital” in this region located more than 400 km from the front line, the police said in a press release.
In southern Ukraine, a 76-year-old woman died in a Russian bombing on Friday in the Zaporizhia region, the regional administration said.
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“The Russian terror in Odessa is a sign of the weakness of the enemy, which is fighting against Ukrainian civilians at a time when it cannot guarantee the safety of people on its own territory,” reacted on Ukrainian President Andriy Yermak, in reference to recent incursions by pro-Ukraine Russian soldiers into Russian villages near the Ukrainian border.
The Russian army assured this Friday that it had pushed back all pro-kyiv fighters from its territory.
російський терор Одеси – це ознака слабкості ворога, який воює з цивіл If you use your phone, you will not be able to enjoy it on your phone. сній території.
Режим тероризму і терориста…
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) March 15, 2024
Opposite, a Ukrainian strike left one Russian civilian dead and two injured this Friday in the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine, according to the governor of this territory, Viatcheslav Gladkov.
Earlier in the day, he announced the death of a Russian fighter in a Ukrainian bombardment on a small border village in the same region.
The occupation authorities installed by Moscow claimed in the morning that three children had died in nighttime Ukrainian bombings in Donetsk, a city in the east controlled by Russia.