At least five people were killed and 18 injured in a missile strike on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa on Saturday (April 23), the president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said in an online post.
Ukraine’s southern air command said that two missiles struck a military facility and two residential buildings in Odesa.
Smoke billowed from one of the residential buildings struck as emergency services could be seen rushing to the scene. One woman who appeared to have some facial injuries was speaking to local media.
The death toll could not be independently verified. The last big strike on or near Odesa was in early April.
“The only aim of Russian missile strikes on Odesa is terror,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
Russia has denied targeting civilians in its “special military operation” that began on Feb. 24.