Aftermath of a Russian drone attack in Odesa, Ukraine, 17 January 2024;
Credit: Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Odesa region/Handout via Reuters
KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine shot down nineteen of the 20 Shahed drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack that wounded three people and damaged residential buildings in the Black Sea port of Odesa, officials said on Wednesday 17 January 2024.
The Ukrainian military said the Russian attack targeted Odesa and other southern regions for at least three hours.
Drone debris hit residential buildings, and damaged a gas pipe and a dozen cars in one of the port's districts, the Interior Ministry said. Three people were wounded and about 130 were evacuated, it added.
"Main efforts of the enemy were concentrated on attacks on Odesa. The kamikaze drones entered at a critically low altitude from the Black Sea," the South military command said in a statement, adding that eleven drones were downed in Odesa.
Moscow has repeatedly tried to hit infrastructure in Ukraine's southern Black Sea ports since it pulled out of a UN-brokered deal that allowed safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments via the sea.
