Ukrainian married couple aged 75 killed in Russian attack on Odesa

A Ukrainian married couple, both aged 75, were killed in a Russian attack on Odesa, Ukrainian officials said.

Russia launched a series of drone attacks on and near Ukraine’s southern port city. The assault destroyed residential buildings and hit a foreign merchant ship, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Strikes overnight on Thursday injured at least 13 people. A separate attack killed the married couple and wounded another, reported Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.

Serhiy Lysak, head of the local military administration, shared images of a building engulfed in flames and another torn open along one side, as emergency crews worked inside.

“Municipal services have been working at the sites of the hits since night,” he said.

Separately, two ⁠Russian ⁠drones struck a bulk carrier as it headed through a Ukrainian ‌maritime corridor towards a Black Sea port in the greater Odesa area, Ukraine’s seaports authority ⁠said.

The attack triggered a ⁠fire that was ⁠put out by ⁠the crew of the Saint ⁠Kitts and Nevis-flagged vessel; no one ‌was hurt, according to preliminary information.

Russia launched two ballistic missiles and 107 drones at Ukrainian territory overnight, according to Ukraine’s Air Force. It said air defences “destroyed or jammed” 96 of the drones, while 10 drones and the two ballistic missiles recorded “hits”.

Russia said its air defences shot down 10 Ukrainian drones overnight.

An apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike in Odesa, Ukraine, April 24 [Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Odesa region/Handout via Reuters]

The attacks come as a new series of European Union-imposed sanctions target Russia’s energy, banking and trade sectors.