A Russian overnight attack on Odesa on 6 April killed three civilians, including a 30-year-old woman, her daughter aged two and a half, and a 53-year-old woman, according to Ukrainian regional authorities. Officials also said further victims could still be trapped beneath the rubble of a damaged residential building.
The strike hit residential property in the Black Sea port city, with one confirmed impact on a multi-storey apartment block. Oleksii Kuleba, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration, said Russian forces had also targeted critical infrastructure and administrative buildings during the attack. He added that rescue teams were continuing to search the site because people might still be under the debris.
Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, said 15 people were injured in the attack. Among them were a pregnant woman, a seven-month-old boy and a two-year-old girl. According to Kiper, the wounded suffered shrapnel injuries, burns, other trauma and smoke inhalation. Some were reported to be in a serious condition, while doctors assessed the injured children as being in a moderate condition.
Earlier in the morning, officials had reported three dead and 10 injured, but the casualty count rose as emergency operations continued and more complete information became available. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service and other outlets later confirmed the revised figure of 15 injured.
Images released by the State Emergency Service showed extensive damage to the building and rescuers working through the wreckage. Emergency crews remained at the scene on Sunday morning, carrying out search and recovery work and assisting residents affected by the blast.
The attack on Odesa was part of a wider Russian drone assault during the night. Ukraine’s public reporting on the strike described it as a direct hit on civilian urban infrastructure, again exposing the vulnerability of residential areas far from the front line. As of the latest official updates, the search operation was still under way.
