Eight dead and dozens wounded in Russian strike on Ukraine’s Odesa port

A Russian ‘Grad’ self-propelled multiple rocket launcher fires towards Ukrainian positions (Russian Defence Ministry Press Service via AP)

Eight people were killed and 27 wounded in a Russian missile strike on port infrastructure in Odesa, southern Ukraine, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said.

Some of the wounded were on a bus at the epicentre of the overnight strike, the service said in a Telegram post.

Trucks caught fire and cars were also damaged.

The port was struck with ballistic missiles, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa region.

A Ukrainian FPV drone operator (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces hit a Russian warship and other facilities with drones, Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement on Saturday.

The nighttime attack hit the Russian warship Okhotnik, according to the statement posted to the Telegram messaging app.

The ship was patrolling in the Caspian Sea near an oil and gas production platform. The extent of the damage is still being clarified, the statement added.

A drilling platform at the Filanovsky oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea was also hit. The facility is operated by Russian oil giant Lukoil.

Ukrainian drones also struck a radar system in the Krasnosilske area of Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.