At least five people were killed and more than 30 injured in a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port city of Odesa on Monday, Ukrainian authorities said.
Dramatic video footage of the attack, released by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office, showed dozens of bombs exploding seconds apart in an area near the seafront.
Other videos and photos shared by authorities showed flames engulfing the cone-shaped towers and roof of an educational institution known locally as “Harry Potter’s castle” due to its resemblance to a Scottish baronial pile.
Ukrainian authorities believe Russia used an Iskander ballistic missile and cluster munitions to carry out the attack.
“Metal fragments and missile debris were recovered within a radius of 1.5 km (almost 1 mile) from the site of the attack,” said Ukraine’s prosecutor general Andriy Kostin. He added that “the investigation has reason to believe” that the Russian military used cluster munitions with the intention of inflicting a large number of casualties.
He said two children and a pregnant woman were among 30 people injured in the attack.
Nearly 20 residential buildings and infrastructure facilities were also damaged by the strike.
The use, transfer and production of cluster munitions are prohibited by an international treaty known as the Convention on Cluster Munitions. However, neither side – not even the United States – signed the convention.
Cluster munitions were used by both sides in the war and were transferred to Ukraine by the United States as part of a military aid package last year.
Russia claims interception
Meanwhile, Russian officials say air defenses in Crimea managed to intercept a major missile and drone attack from Ukraine.
Kremlin-appointed Sergey Aksyonov, the top civilian official in occupied Crimea, warned people not to approach possible unexploded ordnance, while one of his officials urged people not to film or post videos of Russian air defenses in action.
Russian military bloggers said the targets were airfields.
The bridge linking Crimea to Russia, a vital artery supplying Russia’s ongoing war efforts, was temporarily closed to traffic but has since reopened.
Russian officials said the attack was carried out primarily using six US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which they said were all successfully shot down by air defenses.
Ukraine had no comment and CNN was unable to verify Russia’s claims. Unusually, almost no video or images of the explosions have emerged.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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