In the early hours of Wednesday, a Ukrainian official reported that a Russian missile strike had resulted in the deaths of three individuals and injuries to three others in Odesa, a city in southern Ukraine that has been repeatedly targeted by Russian missiles and drones aiming to disrupt its port facilities.
This attack came after a Russian airstrike on Monday evening that claimed the lives of five people and left around 30 others wounded, as per Ukrainian authorities.
Footage and images from the Monday attack depicted motionless and bloodied civilians on a seafront promenade, far from any known strategic locations such as military structures or storage facilities.
Accusations were made on Tuesday by Ukrainian officials against Russia for using cluster munitions, a controversial and prohibited weapon that can cause widespread harm to civilians, in the aforementioned attack.
The assault in the early hours of Wednesday also caused damage to civilian infrastructure in Odesa, as stated by Oleh Kiper, the head of the military administration in the region, on the Telegram messaging app.
Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, alleged that Russia had launched an Iskander ballistic missile with a cluster warhead during the Monday attack. Mr. Kostin claimed, “The investigators suspect that the decision to use such a weapon was made by Russian military officers with the intention of causing maximum harm to Ukrainian civilians.”
The authenticity of these claims could not be independently verified. A video accompanying the statement showed the assault targeting a port area with various sports facilities nearby. The video displayed around 30 explosions occurring rapidly across the port neighborhood. While The New York Times confirmed the video’s authenticity, the type of weapon used remained unverified.
Moments before the explosions, Ukraine issued a warning through a Telegram channel about a missile launch from Crimea directed towards Odesa.
Konrad Muzyka, a military analyst with Rochan Consulting in Poland, suggested that the explosions were likely caused by a cluster munition. Bridget Brink, the United States ambassador to Ukraine, mentioned on social media that Russia had employed cluster munitions in the attack, emphasizing the relentless and brutal nature of Russia’s ongoing war on civilians.
The Kremlin did not provide any comments on the strikes in Odesa. American officials acknowledged the Monday attack and the Ukrainian allegations of cluster munitions but could not confirm their use.
Due to the threat cluster munitions pose to civilians, over 100 countries have signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, pledging to refrain from producing, using, transferring, or stockpiling such weapons. Notably, the United States, Russia, and Ukraine are not signatories to this treaty.
Both Russia and Ukraine have been known to utilize cluster munitions, a category of weapons that includes rockets, bombs, mortars, artillery shells, and missiles that disperse smaller projectiles…
2024-04-30 20:19:05
Source from www.nytimes.com