At least seven people have been killed while dozens of others wounded in Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian cities of Odesa and Kharkiv.
A Russian missile attack on an educational institution in a popular seafront park in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa killed at least five people and injured 32, local officials confirmed Tuesday.
Regional Gov. Oleh Kiper, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said that in addition to those killed in the attack, one man died after suffering a stroke attributed to the strike.
Kiper said eight of the injured were in serious condition, including a 4-year-old child. Among the injured were another child and a pregnant woman.
Reuters Television footage showed the roof of the ornate building, a private law academy, all but destroyed after the strike. Firefighters were directing water on small fires still burning.
"Monsters. Beasts. Savages. Scum. I don't know what else to say," Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said in a video posted on Telegram. "People are going for a walk by the sea and they are shooting and killing."
Pictures posted earlier online showed the building ablaze and smoke billowing skyward.
Video footage, which could not be immediately verified, showed people receiving treatment on the street alongside pools of blood. One photo showed officials examining part of a missile.
A student at the academy who identified herself by her first name, Maria, said the blaze was caused when the missile was intercepted.
"In front of my eyes, a missile was shot down, this was just in front of me. My doors were blown open and the glass was shaking. And then I saw this," she told Reuters, pointing to the burning building.
"Just before this happened, we wanted to go down there for a walk, but thank God we weren't there when it happened."
Ukrainian navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk, in a post on a military Telegram channel, said the strike was conducted by an Iskander-M ballistic missile with a cluster warhead.
Public broadcaster Suspilne said the academy's president, a prominent former member of parliament, Serhiy Kivalov, was among the injured.
Odesa has been a frequent target of Russian missile and drone attacks, particularly port infrastructure.
Meanwhile, two people were killed and six others wounded in Russian strikes on Kharkiv, the regional governor said.
The situation has been worsening under Russian bombardment in Kharkiv, which lies near the Russian border and is Ukraine's second-largest city.
"According to preliminary information, two people were killed and six were wounded in the strikes on Kharkiv," Gov. Oleg Synyegubov said.
He earlier said that Russia "attacked Kharkiv with guided aerial bombs."
Kharkiv, which almost fell to Russia at the start of its 2022 invasion, had a pre-war population of 1.4 million people.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) issued a statement Tuesday, describing a worsening situation in Kharkiv, with an increasingly anxious population subjected to regular air raids.
It said recent attacks have caused "extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and led to a sharp increase in casualties among the local population."
The city now regularly suffers "severe power outages, interruptions in water and heating supply, and a complete halt of trams for public transportation."
It quoted a Kharkiv-based medic, Oleksandr Volkov, who described an increasingly distressed population.
"The people of Kharkiv are increasingly unsettled, with dwindling confidence in the future, particularly in the wake of frequent shelling recently," Volkov said.
"Living conditions have become increasingly uncomfortable, marking a significant deterioration compared to just six months ago," he said.
He said "air raid sirens sound day and night", with locals "experiencing heightened anxiety and distress."
Volkov also said people in Kharkiv are increasingly struggling to access medication.
"People are unable to afford medical supplies for two main reasons: lack of funds and poor logistics exacerbated by the ongoing war," he said.
A survey by the IRC found that 54 percent of people in Kharkiv are unable to get prescribed medication due to a lack of funds and medicine shortages.
