Ukrainian authorities say Russian missile attacks on residential buildings in a coastal town near the port city of Odesa have killed at least 19 people, including two children.
Video of the pre-dawn Friday attack showed the charred remains of buildings in the small town of Serhiivka, located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of Odesa.
The Ukrainian president’s office said three X-22 missiles fired by Russian bombers struck an apartment building and two campsites.
Ukraine's first deputy interior minister Yevhenii Yenin told reporters there were no military targets within the vicinity
of the bombing.
“We don't expect to find anyone alive, but there is a chance,” Yenin said. “According to preliminary information, there could have been two more people in premises of the recreation center.”
A spokesperson for the Kremlin denied targeting residences.
The assault came after Russian forces withdrew from a strategic Black Sea island on Thursday. Russia took control of Snake Island in the opening days of the war.
Their withdrawal initially was seen as lessening the threat to the Odesa region.
