World

Pre-dawn Russian drone attack on Odesa wounds 14

Apr 27, 2026

Residential houses damaged by a Russian strike in Odesa, Ukraine — Children were among those injured in a Russian attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa. -AP

A Russian drone attack on Ukraine's southern city of Odesa has wounded 14 people, including two children, authorities say, in the latest barrage of civilian areas that have been a hallmark of Moscow's full-scale invasion, now in its fifth year.

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The drones hit residential neighbourhoods and civilian infrastructure before dawn on Monday, said the head of the city's administration, Serhii Lysak.

Russia has repeatedly targeted Odesa, a key Black Sea port for Ukraine.

Five of the injured, most of them with shrapnel wounds, were hospitalised, according to the head of the regional military administration, Oleh Kiper.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone strike killed two people in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Kherson region, Moscow-installed governor Vladimir Saldo said Monday.

A man and a woman in their 70s died in the village of Dnipriany, he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Monday that in the past week Russia had fired about 1900 attack drones, nearly 1400 powerful guided aerial bombs and about 60 missiles of various types at Ukraine.

Ukraine's wartime development of cutting-edge military technology means it is intercepting more than 90 per cent of the drones that Russia launches, Zelenskiy claimed in a post on X.

However, Ukraine needs more American-made Patriot air defence missiles that are able to shoot down Russia's ballistic missiles.

Ukraine has recently been helping countries in the Middle East and Gulf region, which are countering attacks on their territory by Iranian drones, with know-how amid the Iran war.

Also, Norway is the latest European country to enter into a joint drone manufacturing agreement with Kyiv, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Monday.

Zelenskiy noted a recent raft of good news for Ukraine: NATO partners, excluding the United States, have contributed to a financial arrangement to buy American weapons, the European Union has approved a 90 billion-euro s($A147 billion) loan to Ukraine, and the EU intends to place more sanctions on Moscow.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has been assailing oil terminals and refineries deep inside Russia with long-range drones and missiles, aiming to disrupt Moscow's economy.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Sunday it has seen geolocated evidence that Ukrainian forces conducted at least 10 strikes against Russian oil and gas infrastructure in the past two weeks.