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Russian missiles have hit an apartment building and two holiday camps near Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa, killing at least 21 people and wounding dozens, Ukrainian authorities say.
Key points:
- A missile struck in the village of Serhiivka early on Friday morning
- The building had been home to 152 residents
- Ukrainian authorities say at least 19 people have been killed and 38 people injured
Video of the pre-dawn attack showed the charred remains of buildings in the small town of Serhiivka, located about 50 kilometres south-west of Odesa.
One section of a nine-storey apartment block was completely destroyed by a missile that struck at 1am local time.
The walls and windows of a neighbouring 14-storey apartment block were also damaged by the blast wave.
Residents were helping rescue workers comb the rubble.
"And those who unfortunately died. We helped to carry them away."
The Ukrainian President's office said three X-22 missiles fired by Russian bombers hit an apartment building and two campsites.
"A terrorist country is killing our people. In response to defeats on the battlefield, they fight civilians," Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine's Security Service said 19 people died, including two children. It said another 38 people, including six children and a pregnant woman, were hospitalised with injuries.
Most of the victims were in the apartment building, Ukrainian emergency officials said.
Odesa region emergency official Ihor Budalenko told a local television channel that 41 people had been rescued.
Mr Budalenko said rescue work was still ongoing to find people who could still be trapped in the building where 152 lived.
Russia has denied targeting civilians since it invaded Ukraine in late February in what it calls a "special operation" to demilitarise its neighbour.
The attacks come days after a Russian bomber hit a crowded shopping mall in the central city of Kremenchuk on Monday, killing at least 19 people.
That strike drew condemnation from Western leaders, but Russia rejected Ukraine's account, saying the missile had struck a store of Western-supplied weapons next to the mall, causing it to catch fire.
A Ukrainian army general on Thursday said Russia was trying to hit military and critical infrastructure with its missile strikes but because it was often using inaccurate Soviet missiles it was causing significant loss of civilian life.
He said 202 missiles had been fired on Ukraine in the second half of June, an increase of 120 from the first half of the month.
He estimated that 68 civilian sites had been hit in the second half of June.
Friday's air strikes came after Russian forces withdrew from Snake Island on Thursday, a move that was expected to potentially ease the threat to nearby Odesa.
ABC/wires
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