Ukraine said Friday that Russian forces had pounded the Black Sea port city of Odesa with missiles, killing more than a dozen people including a paramedic and a rescue worker.
AFP journalists on the scene saw bodies covered by blankets arrayed on the street while images from officials showed exhausted emergency service workers smeared with blood and dirt dousing flames and treating wounded colleagues.
Local authorities said Russian aerial bombardments struck residential buildings, cars and a gas pipeline leaving at least 16 people dead and wounding another 55 people, including rescuers.
"Russian terror in Odesa is a sign of weakness of the enemy, which is fighting Ukrainian civilians at a time when it cannot guarantee security for people on its own territory," said Andriy Yermak, a senior government official in Kyiv.
Yermak was apparently referring to a series of fatal Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory and several attempts by pro-Kyiv militias to gain a hold inside Russian border regions this week.
There was no immediate comment on the strikes from Russia, whose forces have routinely targeted the transport hub with drones and missiles.
City officials said Moscow had targeted Odesa with the Iskander missiles launched from the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
The strikes came on the first day of presidential elections in Russia, which is also hosting the vote in several occupied regions of Ukraine, angering Kyiv.
This month, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis came under missile attacks in Odesa, when Russia said it was targeting military facilities at the city's port.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
