KYIV, March 28 (Reuters) – Russia launched a barrage of drones in waves of attacks on Ukraine, killing four people and damaging gas production facilities, port infrastructure, residential buildings and a maternity hospital, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
Russian troops launched 273 drones, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that the southern Odesa region was the focus of the attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said more than 60 drones were used during the Russian strikes on the city of Odesa.
“There was no military purpose whatsoever – this was pure terror against ordinary civilian life,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app. “Sadly, there is extensive damage.”
TWO KILLED, 12 WOUNDED IN ODESA, GOVERNOR SAYS
Oleh Kiper, the regional governor, said two people were killed and 12, including a child, were wounded in the attacks on Odesa.
A 55-year-old energy worker was killed when Russia struck Ukraine’s gas production facilities in the central Poltava region, energy company Naftogaz said.
A 28-year-old man was also killed in the industrial city of Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the governor said.
The air force said Ukrainian air defence units had shot down 252 drones, but that 21 drones had hit targets at 18 sites.
In the Black Sea port of Odesa, the Russian attacks damaged a maternity hospital, residential buildings and port infrastructure, regional officials said.
Reuters television footage showed firefighters working on the site of the damaged hospital with smashed windows and a destroyed roof.
Ihor Shpak, the hospital’s chief doctor, told Reuters that a powerful explosion had ripped through the building, destroying the roof, connecting structures between the fourth and third floors, and some hospital wards.
Medics managed to evacuate 22 newborn babies, including twins on ventilator support, and 32 other patients to the shelter just before the attack, he said.
Olena Kudriashova, an Odesa resident, said she was scared when Shahed drones were flying towards her house.
“On the right, on the left, at the front, and at the back, windows and doors were smashed. Our little window survived, and we’re so happy we made it through the night,” she told Reuters outside the building with smashed windows in central Odesa.
(Reporting by Iryna Nazarchuk in Odesa, Olena Harmash in Kyiv; Editing by Jan Harvey)
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