Two children among 18 dead after Russian missile strike on Odesa – governorTwo children are among 18 people killed by a missile strike in Odesa, according to the latest update from regional governor Maksym Marchenko.
He posted to Telegram to say:
As a result of a night missile strike by Tu-22 strategic aircraft from the Black Sea in the Belgorod-Dniester district of Odesa region, three X-22 missiles hit an apartment building and a recreation centre.
As of 9am, 18 victims were identified, including 2 children, and 31 people were hospitalised, including 4 children and a pregnant woman. Another 8 sought medical help. 8 people were rescued from the rubble, including 3 children. Rescue work continues.
Earlier, Ukrainian MP Roman Hryshchuk shared a video purportedly from the attack, saying “Just imagine: you wake up and realise that there is no way out. People were trapped in their own apartments after Russian missiles hit a residential high-rise in Odesa.”
Ukraine’s state emergency services have issued this handout picture of rescue workers in Odesa. Photograph: State Emergency Services Of Ukraine/ReutersThe claims have not been independently verified.
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine will begin using the death penalty in 2025, according to an updated criminal code of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
A Russian proxy court in the DPR sentenced two Britons, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun to death on charges of “terrorism”. The ruling has been condemned as a “sham judgement” in Britain.
The new criminal code, in effect from Friday, states that the death penalty should be carried out by firing squad and that the head of the Russian-controlled DPR has the final say on issuing pardons to anybody sentenced to death.
It is unclear what the new rules would mean for the captured men, Reuters reports.
On Thursday, the European court of human rights (ECHR) said it had issued an order to Russia to ensure that the men do not face the death penalty.
In response, the Kremlin said it was not bound by rulings from the ECHR, from which Russia pulled out after its troops invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
The EU’s flag was hoisted in the plenary hall of Ukraine’s parliament after an address by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.