Russian drone attack injures nine in Ukraine’s Odesa, officials say

KYIV (Reuters) : Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine that injured nine people in the Black Sea port of Odesa, four of them children, and also targeted Kyiv, the capital, Ukraine’s military officials said early on Tuesday.

The injured children, which include two infants, have been hospitalised, as well as three of the injured adults, the governor of the Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Several residential buildings in the city were damaged and caught fire, he said. At least 14 apartments were damaged, the city administration added.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched a total of 16 attack drones targeting Ukraine and two short-range Iskander ballistic missiles.

Air defence systems destroyed 15 of the drones over Ukraine’s southern regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv, the central region of Cherkasy and the capital region of Kyiv, the air force said on Telegram. It did not say what happened to the missiles.

All the drones Russia launched on Kyiv were destroyed, Serhiy Popko, the head of the capital’s military administration, said on Telegram, adding that there were no reports of damage or injuries from the attack.

Also on Telegram, Mykolaiv’s governor, Vitaly Kim, said wreckage from a downed drone damaged a commercial infrastructure building.