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The port city of Odesa in Ukraine has been under siege by Russian soldiers using drones and missiles.
The Ukrainian air force said on Monday that 22 attack drones and four missiles were launched late on Sunday from the Black Sea port in the annexed territory of Crimea.
At least eight people were hurt in the attacks, which also damaged the 124-year-old Odesa Fine Arts Museum and destroyed crops.
The Ukrainian air force reported that “15 Shaheds and one Kh-59 air guided missile were shot down,” referring to the unmanned aerial vehicle known as the kamikaze, which was designed in Iran.
Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff for the Ukrainian presidential office, shared pictures of the strike’s aftermath on social media and vowed to exact revenge.
He declared, “This is their vile response to the fact that the Ukrainian Crimea will be demilitarized, free of Russian military bases and the Black Sea fleet.”
Recently, Ukraine has increased its attacks on the Sevastopol naval facility in Russia. Ahead of winter, Russian air strikes have became more frequent in recent weeks, focusing primarily on infrastructure.
Since Moscow withdrew from an agreement that permitted Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea earlier this year, Odesa, the country’s principal grain port, has also come under attack.
The Odesa Fine Arts Museum, twenty residential structures, and infrastructural facilities were destroyed, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. The fire that quickly spread from a warehouse to grain-filled trucks was put out.
More than 10,000 works of art, including paintings by some of the most well-known Russian and Ukrainian artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, were kept in the museum before the war, despite damage to its walls and windows.
Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region, whose administrative center is Odesa city, posted on the messaging app Telegram, “On November 6, the Odesa National Art Museum turns 124 years old.”
“The Russians ‘congratulated’ our architectural monument on the eve of November 6 with a missile that hit nearby.”
In all, eight people were hurt in the assault.
In a live interview with US network NBC News on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reaffirmed his call for Western support ahead of the difficult winter months, and specifically for air defense systems.
SOURCE : ALJAZEERA
