In the early hours of the day, the situation in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa remained critical after another intense wave of Russian air strikes, local authorities and regional news agencies reported. As of 5:40 a.m. Bulgarian time, rescue teams continued their work to clear the debris and eliminate the consequences of the strikes, which were mainly directed at civilian and logistics infrastructure.
According to official data from the Odessa Regional Military Administration, at least two people died in the attack carried out with fast-flying ballistic missiles. Civilians were injured, including a 24-year-old man who was hospitalized with severe shrapnel injuries. The Russian Defense Ministry released a statement claiming that the midnight strikes targeted military facilities and port infrastructure in Odessa, Izmail, and Chernomorsk. However, local Ukrainian authorities categorically denied these allegations, stressing that entirely peaceful facilities and civilian enterprises were affected.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an official statement on the massive offensive, which also affected the capital Kiev and other regions. He stressed that the lack of sufficient ammunition for air defense makes cities vulnerable to Russian ballistic missiles. According to a report by the Ukrainian Air Force, air defense managed to neutralize most of the 121 drones and cruise missiles launched, but six hypersonic ballistic missiles bypassed the defenses and hit their targets. An alert has been declared in Odessa and the region, and citizens are urged to remain in shelters due to the risk of subsequent secondary attacks.