Two loud explosions were heard in Odessa on the Black Sea early today and black smoke was seen rising above the city, Ukraine’s largest port and headquarters of its navy.
“Odessa was attacked from the air. Some missiles were shot down by air defence,” the city council said in a brief statement on the Telegram messaging app.
An AFP reporter heard explosions in the southwestern city at around 6am (4am Irish time).
The blasts sent up at least three columns of black smoke with flames visible apparently in an industrial area.
A soldier near the site of one of the strikes said it was likely a rocket or a missile.
With Mariupol, to the east of Odessa, squarely in Russia’s crosshairs, Ukraine insists it has gained a leg up elsewhere in the country, leading to troops retaking territory north of the capital, Kyiv, as Russian forces departed.
“Ukraine has gained invaluable time, time that is allowing us to foil the enemy’s tactics and weaken its capabilities,” Zelenskyy said late yesterday.
However, inside Mariupol, which has been surrounded by Russian forces for more than a month and suffered by some of the war’s worst attacks, conditions remain dire and prospects for escape uncertain.
About 100,000 people are believed to remain in the Sea of Azov city, less than a quarter of its pre-war population of 430,000, and dire shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine persist.
https://www.thejournal.ie/latest-ukraine-air-strikes-odesa-5728756-Apr2022/
“Odessa was attacked from the air. Some missiles were shot down by air defence,” the city council said in a brief statement on the Telegram messaging app.
An AFP reporter heard explosions in the southwestern city at around 6am (4am Irish time).
The blasts sent up at least three columns of black smoke with flames visible apparently in an industrial area.
A soldier near the site of one of the strikes said it was likely a rocket or a missile.
With Mariupol, to the east of Odessa, squarely in Russia’s crosshairs, Ukraine insists it has gained a leg up elsewhere in the country, leading to troops retaking territory north of the capital, Kyiv, as Russian forces departed.
“Ukraine has gained invaluable time, time that is allowing us to foil the enemy’s tactics and weaken its capabilities,” Zelenskyy said late yesterday.
However, inside Mariupol, which has been surrounded by Russian forces for more than a month and suffered by some of the war’s worst attacks, conditions remain dire and prospects for escape uncertain.
About 100,000 people are believed to remain in the Sea of Azov city, less than a quarter of its pre-war population of 430,000, and dire shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine persist.
https://www.thejournal.ie/latest-ukraine-air-strikes-odesa-5728756-Apr2022/
Get it? They all speak Russian there. 
