A Russian drone attack on Odessa, Ukraine, leaves one person dead and 13 injured, the governor says

Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa overnight, killing one person and wounding 13 others, including two boys, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Saturday.

Several homes, private homes, commercial buildings and dozens of private cars were damaged on the second straight day of Russian drone strikes on the city, Kiper said.

“During the night the enemy again attacked Odessa and the surrounding region with attack drones. One person died and 13 were injured. Two children were among the injured,” he said on the messaging app Telegram.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, the children were boys aged 4 and 16.

Russia launched 51 drones and focused its attack on Odessa and the neighboring region in southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force said, adding that Ukrainian air defense units and mobile drone hunter groups shot down 32 Russian drones.

It also said 18 drones were “lost,” most likely meaning they were electronically thwarted.

Russian drones also started a major fire in a district of Odessa, the public broadcaster Suspilne reported, citing residents.

Other media outlets in the city released video footage showing cars and buildings burning and thick smoke billowing into the sky.

As the war against Russia nears its 1,000-day mark, Moscow’s armed forces have stepped up airstrikes on Ukrainian cities and towns, deploying swarms of drones almost every night.

According to the Ukrainian military, Russia fired more than 2,000 attack drones at civilian and military targets in October.

Moscow says it is not targeting civilians. The UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine had recorded 11,743 civilian deaths from conflict-related violence since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 through the end of August this year. The Ukrainian government believes the toll is likely to be much higher due to difficult access to parts of the country.