Odesa strikes injure 14 people

A Russian drone attack before dawn on April 27 wounded 14 people in Odesa, including two children, and hit residential neighborhoods and civilian infrastructure. (pbs.org) Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional military administration, said five of the wounded were hospitalized, most with shrapnel injuries. Serhii Lysak, head of the city administration, said drones struck three districts. (pbs.org) (thestar.com.my) The heaviest damage was in Odesa’s historic Prymorskyi district, where officials said residential buildings, a hotel and other facilities were damaged. Reuters reported that most of the injured were found there. (thestar.com.my) The strike also reached the port area. Ukraine’s seaports authority said infrastructure in the Greater Odesa hub was damaged, an energy facility inside a cargo terminal caught fire, and the Nauru-flagged vessel Ramco sustained minor damage while moving through the maritime corridor. (thestar.com.my) Odesa is Ukraine’s largest Black Sea port and a main route for imports and exports, which is why repeated attacks there carry economic weight beyond the city itself. Russia has targeted the port repeatedly since the full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022. (pbs.org) (thestar.com.my) President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used the attack to press again for stronger air defenses. He said Russia fired about 1,900 attack drones, nearly 1,400 guided aerial bombs and around 60 missiles of various types at Ukraine over the previous week. (pbs.org) Zelenskyy said Ukraine is intercepting more than 90% of incoming drones but still needs more American-made Patriot missiles to counter ballistic threats. His office said later on April 27 that Ukraine was seeking additional ballistic-missile defense and other air-defense systems. (pbs.org) (president.gov.ua) The same day, Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 94 drones at the country since 6 p.m. on April 26, and 74 were downed or neutralized. That left enough getting through to damage Odesa’s center and port. (thestar.com.my) The attack underscored the pattern Zelenskyy has been describing: most drones can be stopped, but repeated large barrages still wound civilians, damage housing and disrupt port operations in one of Ukraine’s most important coastal cities. (pbs.org) (thestar.com.my)