Five people were killed on Wednesday as a result of a Russian attack on the port infrastructure of Ukraine in Odesa, media quoted the spokesman of the Navy. Ukrainian Pravda. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it successfully attacked a hangar housing Ukrainian Navy drones during a strike on the Odesa port, Reuters reports.

A building destroyed by a Russian drone attack in OdessaPhoto: Nina Lyashonok / Sipa Press / Profimedia

The Russian attack happened at the moment when President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis were in Odesa port and heard an explosion nearby.

“At the end of the visit, we heard the sound of an air raid siren and explosions very close to us. We didn’t have time to take cover,” Mitsotakis said after the blasts, calling it an “amazing experience”.

For his part, President Zelenskyi said that “(the Russians) don’t care where they hit”, specifying that “they are dead and wounded”, without further details.

Later, a representative of the Navy told “Ukrainian Pravda” that five people were killed.

“On March 6, the enemy fired at the city’s port infrastructure. Five people were killed. An investigation is underway to establish all the circumstances of another war crime committed by the Russian Federation,” said the spokesman of the Ukrainian Navy, Dmytro Pletenyuk. .

A warning about an air raid in the Odesa region was announced at 10:41 a.m., followed by a loud explosion. At 10:45, the Air Force reported the threat of using ballistic missiles in the areas where the air warning siren was activated, Ukrainian Pravda reports.

Moscow claims to have successfully hit a hangar housing Ukrainian drones

“The goal has been achieved. The goal has been achieved,” the ministry said in a statement, which Reuters could not independently verify.

Ukraine has widely used naval drones to strike Russian ships in the Black Sea.

Since July last year, Russia has launched more than 880 drones and more than 170 missiles at the port infrastructure of the Black Sea in the Odesa region, the commander of the Ukrainian Navy said on Wednesday.

Russia has stepped up attacks on port infrastructure since mid-July, when it violated a UN-brokered deal that allowed Ukrainian grain shipments to pass safely through the Black Sea.