A Russian missile strike on Odesa kills five, injures more than 30 others. Russian air strikes on civilian areas of Kharkiv kill one, injure nine others. Ukraine will join NATO only after it wins the war against Russia, Zelenskyi said.
Russian missile strike on Odesa kills five, injures more than 30 others
A Russian missile attack on Odesa on Monday evening killed five people. The strike hit the building which news reports said was the home of Serhiy Kivalov, notorious ex-head of the Central Election Commission and former MP of the Party of Regions, who was reportedly injured in the attack. His mansion allegedly houses a legal academy.
Ukraine’s Air Force issued a warning of a ballistic missile threat ahead of the strike. An air raid alert was declared at 6:24 p.m. local time. Four minutes later, at 6:28 p.m., there was a powerful explosion.
As of Monday evening, 32 people were injured, of whom 25 were treated in hospital. Among the injured were two children and a pregnant woman. A four-year-old girl was in a grave condition. Six people were in intensive care, head of the Odesa regional military administration, Oleh Kiper said.
On Tuesday, the death toll from the strike rose to five after a 63-year-old man injured in the attack died in hospital. In addition to those killed in the attack, one man died after suffering a stroke attributed to the strike.
Russia used an Iskander ballistic missile with a cluster warhead to strike Odesa, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin said on Facebook on Tuesday.
The investigation has grounds to believe that Russian forces decided to use this particular weapon “deliberately to kill as many Ukrainian civilians as possible,” Kostin said.
Regional authorities have declared a day of mourning on Tuesday.
Russian air strikes on civilian areas of Kharkiv kill one, injure nine others
A Russian bombardment of Kharkiv on Tuesday morning killed one and injured nine others, head of the regional military administration Oleh Synehubov said.
Ukraine’s Air Force issued a warning of a ballistic missile threat and glide bomb launch ahead of the strike.
Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said glide bombs hit two civilian sites in the Kyivskyi and Kholodnohirsky districts of the city.
“Nine people were injured and one other killed as a result of a glide bomb attack on Kharkiv. A 24-year-old civilian man that was killed, was a worker at an industrial facility. He was at work when Russia hit the site with an air strike. He died of a shrapnel wound,” Synehubov said.
Four people, women ages 28, 38, and 40, and a 42-year-old man were taken to hospital. They had blast injuries.
Six people suffered a severe stress reaction and were treated on the spot.
The first strike hit a garage area and administrative buildings in the Kyivskyi district, Synehubov said. More than 40 garages were damaged. Three cars caught fire, and six others were damaged. The second strike hit two civilian buildings in the Kholodnohirskyi district.
Ukraine to join NATO only after it wins war against Russia, Zelenskyi says
Ukraine will join NATO only after it wins the war against Russia, President Zelenskyi told a meeting of Ukrainian officers that are getting NATO-standard training. Zelenskyi and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met the officers in Kyiv on Tuesday.
“In my personal opinion, we will join NATO only after we win [against Russia]. I don’t think NATO will accept us as a member during the war. Some NATO members see it as a risk, others are skeptical about it,” Zelenskyi said.
When Ukraine joins NATO, Zelenskyi said, Ukrainian troops’ interoperability with allied forces and professionalism “will no longer be a matter.”
“[Ukraine’s] NATO membership is, as the Secretary General said, a matter of majority rule. Majority rule is political. Ukraine needs a victory to be politically accepted into NATO,” he said.
The next NATO summit will be on July 9-11, 2024 in Washington, and will mark NATO’s 75th anniversary. Earlier this year, Zelenskyi said Ukraine’s expectations of the summit are that the allies will commit to sending more air defenses to Ukraine and will chart specific steps toward the country’s NATO membership.