A Russian ballistic missile attack hit civilian infrastructure in Ukraine's Black Sea port city of Odesa on Friday, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 70 in Moscow's deadliest attack in weeks, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia has stepped up its strikes on the southern city in recent weeks, launching drones or missiles almost every day this month.
Two Russian Iskander-M missiles fired from the Moscow-occupied peninsula of Crimea struck a residential area in Odesa, Oleh Kiper, the region's governor said on national television.
"Russia continues to terrorise Odesa ... local residents, medical and emergency workers are among the victims and injured," Andriy Kostin, Ukraine's prosecutor general, said.
The medic and rescuer were killed by a second missile after rushing to the scene to treat people hurt in the initial strike, Kiper added.
Ten people had suffered serious injuries, he said. Residents were rushing to donate blood, causing queues at medical centres. Saturday was declared a day of mourning.
A three-storey recreational facility was destroyed and at least 10 private houses, a low pressure gas pipeline and rescue vehicles were damaged in the attack, the southern military command said.
Rescuers battled to put out fires on the pipeline and in a private house over a total area of about 120 square metres and continued clearing the rubble.
"Ukraine needs urgent help to defend itself and to defend peace in Europe," Maia Sandu, the president of neighbouring Moldova, said on X.
Odesa, one of Ukraine's biggest ports, has long been a target of Russian attacks, especially after Moscow quit a U.N.-brokered deal that had allowed safe passage for Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea.
"The Russian terror in Odesa is a sign of the weakness of the enemy, which is fighting against Ukrainian civilians at a time when it cannot guarantee the safety of people on its own territory," Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram.
Moscow denies targeting civilians in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine which it launched in February 2022, although many have been killed in frequent Russian air strikes across the country.
Ukraine has developed and used long-range drones to try to strike back at Russia, stepping up attacks on a string of oil refineries this week in the run-up to Russia's March 15-17 presidential election.
Ukraine attacked a small refinery in Russia's Kaluga region with drones early on Friday in an operation that was conducted by the GUR military spy agency, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters.
