The regional governor in the southern Ukraine port city of Odesa reports a Russian missile attack Friday killed 14 people and injured 46 others.
In a post complete with pictures on his Telegram social media account, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said the dead included residents, a medic and a rescue worker. He said seven emergency workers were among the injured.
Kiper said the two emergency workers who were killed had come to the scene to attend to victims of an initial attack and died when a second missile hit the same location. He noted the total number of victims is still being determined and a day of mourning will be held Saturday.
“Russia is a terrorist country,” he said.
Russia has stepped up its attacks on the southern port city since the middle of last year, after the Kremlin ended a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to ship Ukrainian grain from the city through the Black Sea.
The attack on Odesa comes after both Ukraine and Russia said Friday they shot down enemy drones overnight, and European leaders gathered in Berlin to discuss more aid for Ukraine.
In a social media post, Ukraine’s air force said it downed 27 Iranian-style drones. The Russian defense ministry said in a statement Friday five Ukrainian drones and two rockets were intercepted over Russia’s Belgorod border region and the Kaluga region, southwest of the Russian capital, Moscow.
On Thursday, Russian drones and missiles hit communications infrastructure in northeastern Ukraine, in what appeared to be an effort to block access to information, officials in Kyiv said.
The assault affected television and radio signals in five cities and towns in the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv, according to the officials.
“In addition to physically destroying the infrastructure objects, the enemy is trying to jam Ukrainian radio stations and the satellite signal of Ukrainian television,” the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection said.
That agency added that the overnight attack was part of Moscow’s “information warfare” to hinder Ukrainians’ access to “truthful information.”
The Sumy governor said repairs were underway to restore television and radio signals and that mobile phone signals had been mostly restored.
The latest fighting came as leaders of Germany, France and Poland planned to meet Friday in Berlin to discuss support for Ukraine as it faced dwindling military supplies.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a summit of the so-called “Weimar Triangle” of the three European powers.
The violence in Ukraine and Russia also comes as Russian citizens go to the polls Friday in national elections that are set to give President Vladimir Putin six more years in power.
Some information in this report was provided by Agence France-Presse, Reuters and The Associated Press.