The Ukrainian city of Odessa after a previous Russian bombing (French)

At least 20 people were killed and more than 70 others were injured - today, Friday - in one of the most violent Russian missile attacks on the city of Odessa in southern Ukraine, which was targeted twice in recent days, while Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of seeking to disrupt the presidential elections in his country by bombing Russian territory.

According to the Ukrainian army, Russian forces launched ballistic missiles from the Crimean Peninsula, targeting the same location with two successive strikes.

Emergency services revealed that the first missile strike targeted the city, causing damage to civilian facilities and causing a fire. Firefighters were sent to the place and they began putting out the fire, removing rubble, and searching for victims, when Moscow launched the other missile strike.

For his part, President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned what he considered a "heinous attack" in which two missiles were used, the second of which he said fell at a time when paramedics and doctors were arriving at the site of the attack.

The Governor of the Odessa Region (Oleg Kiper) had previously revealed that a medical worker and a paramedic were killed in the attack, and the Public Prosecution reported that at least 8 members of the emergency services were injured.

This is the third violent attack that Odessa has been exposed to since the beginning of this March.

On the third of this month, a drone attack targeted a residential building, killing 12 people, including 5 children.

On the 6th of the month, a Russian bombing killed 5 people while the Ukrainian President and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were touring the city.

The site that was subjected to Russian bombing in Odessa (French)

Scattered bombing in Ukraine

In Avdiivka, Ukrainian Army Commander Oleksandr Sirsky stated that Russia focused its most prominent efforts around the city, which it took control of last February, to penetrate the remaining Ukrainian defenses.

The Ukrainian police also announced that attacks by Russian drones at night led to the death of a couple and the injury of two young men in the central-western region of Venice, more than 400 kilometers from the front line.

Putin's meeting with members of the Russian Security Council (French)

Putin threatens

In Russia, the Belgorod region - bordering Ukraine - was bombed by Kiev, killing a civilian and a fighter and wounding two civilians, amid incursion attempts by Russian fighters loyal to Ukraine into several Russian regions, which the Russian army confirmed that it repelled.

The Russian President vowed to punish Kiev for sending 2,500 soldiers in an attempt to breach the border.

In a speech before members of the Security Council, Putin said that 4 attacks occurred in the Belgorod region and one in Kursk by supporters of armed Ukrainians who were armed with up to 35 tanks and 40 armored vehicles, noting that 60% of them were killed.

Source: Agencies