The Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa came under an air attack late on Sunday, with Russian forces launching a barrage that resulted in casualties, property damage, and a devastating blow to the city’s cultural heritage.
According to officials, the air raid wounded at least eight people, set trucks loaded with grain ablaze, and inflicted harm on one of Odesa’s principal art galleries.
The attack, which took place on Sunday night, also left a trail of destruction in its wake, damaging around 20 multi-story buildings and more than two dozen cars, as reported by the Interior Ministry.
In a statement, the air force revealed that Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 15 out of 22 incoming Iranian-made “Shahed” drones and an X-59 missile.
The assault targeted Odesa’s port infrastructure, resulting in damage to warehouses, specialized vehicles, and the ignition of grain-laden trucks, which were fortunately quickly extinguished.
This escalation follows Russia’s intensified bombardments of Ukrainian ports, including Odesa, and grain infrastructure since July, when Moscow withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime agreement that facilitated Ukraine’s grain exports to countries facing the threat of food scarcity.
The air force indicated that the attack involved the launch of four different missiles targeting the southern Odesa and Kherson regions, with the projectiles originating from the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. The precise cause of the damage to the buildings and trucks—whether it resulted from drone strikes or falling debris—remained unclear.
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As of now, there has been no immediate comment from Russian authorities regarding the attack.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the president’s office, suggested that the air raid may have been a response to Ukrainian strikes on Crimea. He remarked, “This is their despicable answer to the reality – the Ukrainian Crimea will be demilitarized, without the Black Sea fleet and military bases of the Russians.”
In a tragic development, the attack inflicted substantial damage on the Odesa Fine Arts Museum, a historic institution located in one of the city’s oldest tsarist-era palaces. Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper lamented the timing of the strike, saying, “On November 6, the Odesa National Art Museum turns 124 years old. On the eve of Nov. 6, the Russians ‘congratulated’ our architectural monument with a missile that hit nearby.” The Odesa city council released a video that depicted shattered windows and debris within the art museum.
The museum housed a remarkable collection of approximately 10,000 pieces of art, including works by renowned Russian and Ukrainian artists from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The air strike has left both the cultural community and the general population deeply dismayed by the loss of this cultural heritage.
The situation in Odesa remains fluid, and the consequences of this attack are likely to reverberate for some time to come. (Source: REUTERS)