Russian forces have fired at least six cruise missiles at the port city of Odesa, according to Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister. Two apartment blocks were hit. A military facility was also affected.
In addition, a burial grove has suffered major damage, but it is unclear whether this is due to a direct hit or whether it is due to wreckage from one of the shot rockets. The air defense managed to shoot down several of the missiles.
TV 2’s team arrived in the affected residential area shortly after the attack.
A 17-storey apartment block stood with gaping holes in several places on the lower floors. The smoke went out, and there was a massive emergency response from ambulances and rescue crews. Many of the inhabitants had to be evacuated through windows and terraces. Several were visibly injured and must be supported. Eventually, the dead were also transported out.
Survived Mariupol, was bombed in Odesa
– I live up there, on the 11th floor, says a man who TV 2 meets outside the building a few hours after the attack. He points upwards towards the facade which is most damaged, placed a few floors just above the large holes.
The man does not want to pose for a camera, but says that he was at home in the apartment with his grandmother when the attack came.
– Grandma has recently gotten out of Mariupol. She was so happy to be here, she finally felt safe, he says.
Odesa has so far been one of the least affected cities in Ukraine. When the plane alarms went off this afternoon, the man thought it was probably another false alarm. But the grandmother was scared and wanted to go to the shelter immediately.
Therefore, they began to move downward. But the grandmother is bad to the bone, and they did not get far before it slammed. The grandson struggles to describe the fear his grandmother felt. She who came from a bomb hell, only to end up in the middle of another.
– But luckily we managed to get out. Grandma’s fine tonight. But only physically, the man says.
Hoping for the best, fearing the worst
– This is the first time residential areas are hit in Odesa, says Vladislav Dronov to TV 2. The 37-year-old lawyer says he heard and saw the missile when it arrived, and ran out to see where it hit. He quickly realized that it was the block where his cousin lived.
– Vladislav Dronov (37) saw and heard the missile that hit. Photo: Tom Rune Orset / TV 2
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– But he is a sailor and at work now, he says to TV 2.
– And his wife and children have fled for a long time. Now they have contacted me and wonder if their apartment is destroyed, says Dronov, and turns towards the building.
– I just hope there will be no more attacks. But we do not know what will happen.
– This is the first time a residential area in Odesa has been hit by Russian missiles. Photo: Tom Rune Orset / TV 2
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This is the biggest attack on Odesa so far in the war. At least eight people were killed and at least 18 injured. The youngest victim was a baby of only three months.
The attack hit in the middle of the Orthodox Easter, and all TV 2 meetings say they were surprised by such an extensive attack.
– We thought the father was over. We were preparing for the Easter holiday, which we will celebrate tomorrow. Today we even put away the first aid equipment that we have had ready until now. It is incredibly frightening what is happening, says a young woman who lives in the area to TV 2. Tears roll down her cheeks.
At least six killed
Odesa is Ukraine’s third largest city, and before the war the port city had about one million inhabitants.
On Friday, Russian military leaders said the goal of the invasion of Ukraine was to take full control of all of southern Ukraine as well as the eastern Donbas region.
If the Russian forces gain control of Odesa and the rest of the Black Sea coast, they will gain land access to the pro-Russian breakaway republic of Transnistria in Moldova. In addition, Ukraine will lose its coastline towards the Black Sea, which will choke the country’s economy since almost all exports go through the ports on the Black Sea, primarily Odesa.
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