At least 19 killed in Russian strike in Odesa

(Update: updates casualties)

Kyiv, Jul 1 (EFE).- At least 19 people were killed in a Russian missile attack on the district of Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky in Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa region early on Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said.

In a statement on Telegram, the chief of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Russian forces had struck a residential building and a recreation center “with civilians inside.”

“Thus far, 19 people were killed and 38 more were injured, including six children,” Serhiy Kruk said.

“As a result of a missile attack by (Russian) Tu-22 strategic aviation from the Black Sea on the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district of the Odesa region overnight, three X-22 missiles hit a multi-storey apartment building and two recreation centers,” deputy head of the presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said.

The local military administration and Tymoshenko said that one missile struck a nine-story residential building, completely destroying a section of it, while another hit a recreation center in Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky district.

Rescue operations were ongoing on Friday afternoon, amid reports from Ukrainian official media that three more people, including two children, were still trapped under the rubble.

Odesa region, whose capital of the same name is the only port in Ukraine that the Russians do not yet control, borders Moldova and Romania.

So far, the Russians have limited their attacks in this area and have focused on destroying the infrastructure that links the region to Europe.

Friday’s attack came a day after the Nato Summit in Madrid, in which the allies strengthened their support to Ukraine and their rejection of Russia’s invasion. EFE

int-lab/ks/jt