At least 21 injured in third night of Russian air attacks on Ukraine’s south

Emergency services work at a building destroyed by a Russian attack in Mykolaiv, Ukraine (National Police of Ukraine/AP)

A third night of Russian air attacks targeted Ukraine’s southern cities, including the port city of Odesa, and injured at least 21 people, Ukrainian officials have said.

At least 19 people were hurt in Mykolaiv, a southern city close to the Black Sea, the region’s Governor Vitalii Kim said in a statement on Telegram.

Russian strikes destroyed several floors of a three-storey building and caused a fire which affected an area of 450 square metres (4,800 square feet) and burned for hours.

Mr Kim said two people, including a child, were admitted to hospital.

Emergency services work at a building destroyed by a Russian attack in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on Thursday (National Police of Ukraine/AP)

In the port city of Odesa, at least two were injured after a Russian air attack which damaged buildings in the city centre and caused a fire affecting an area of 300 square metres (3200 square feet), said Odesa governor Oleh Kiper.

The attacks come a day after an intense Russian bombardment using drones and missiles damaged critical port infrastructure in Odesa, including grain and oil terminals.

The strikes destroyed at least 54,400 tonnes of grain.

The Kremlin’s attacks on southern Ukraine have become more intense this week after President Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of a wartime deal allowing Ukraine to send grain to countries facing the threat of hunger.

In the Russian-annexed territory of Crimea, “an enemy drone” attacked a settlement in the peninsula’s northwest, damaging several administrative buildings and killing a teenage girl, the region’s Moscow-appointed governor Sergei Aksyonov said on Thursday.