20 wounded in Russian attacks on Ukraine's Mykolaiv, Odesa: governors
Russia launched attacks on the Ukrainian port cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv, wounding twenty people, local governors said early Thursday.
"Russians hit the city centre. A garage and a 3-story residential building are on fire," Mykolaiv governor Vitaliy Kim wrote on Telegram.
Eighteen people had been wounded and nine of them had been hospitalised, including five children, he added, without specifying their condition or if they had been in the residential building.
He did not give details on the strike.
Pictures posted to Telegram by Mykolaiv mayor Oleksandr Senkevych showed a fire engine working to douse flames in a multi-storey building with its facade partially destroyed.
"At least five residential high-rise buildings" and around 15 garages were damaged, he said, without giving details.
Earlier, Ukraine's air force had announced an air alert for Mykolaiv and Odesa, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) away and several other regions.
It said it had detected the launch of "missiles" towards the Odesa region.
The city of Odesa had been attacked, regional governor Oleg Kiper wrote on Telegram, without specifying the nature of the attack.
"As a result of the Russian attack, there is destruction in the centre of Odessa," he said.
Authorities had information on "two hospitalised victims", he said, without giving details.
A picture posted to Telegram by Sergiy Bratchuk showed a multi-storey building with several windows damaged,
Another showed a man sweeping broken glass from a roadside.
Ports in Odesa were key transit hubs for the export of grain from Ukraine until Moscow said earlier this week it would withdraw from a deal giving safe passage to cargo ships in the Black Sea.
Kyiv on Wednesday claimed Russia had destroyed 60,000 tonnes of grain meant for export in overnight strikes around Odesa.
Mykolaiv is located on the Black Sea, about 170 kilometres (100 miles) from Moscow-annexed Crimea.
Russian forces have frequently targeted it since Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022.
On Tuesday governor Kim said an "industrial facility" in the city was hit in an overnight attack launched hours after the Kremlin refused to extend the grain export deal.