One dead and 14 injured as Russia launches wave of strikes on Odesa
20 June 2025, 11:11 | Updated: 20 June 2025, 11:31
At least one person is dead and 14 injured after Russia launched a wave of drone strikes at apartment blocks in the Ukrainian city of Odesa.
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The Kremlin targeted several high-rise apartment buildings in the city with at least 10 drone strikes overnight, Odesa governor Oleh Kiper said.
He added a higher education institution, a gas pipeline and private cars were also damaged.
Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine’s state railway service, said Odesa railway station was damaged during the attack.
“With no meaningful consequences, Russia feels free to escalate. Every delay, every diluted sanction, every excuse for inaction is taken in Moscow as permission,” economics minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on X following the attack.
At least 70 Russian drones were shot out of the sky overnight, officials added, with attacks also recorded in the city of Kharkiv.
The Kremlin reports 61 Ukrainian drones were fired at Russia overnight.
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy will convene a meeting of the so-called "coalition of the willing" in the coming weeks, as the UK pushed for allies to tighten the oil price cap on Russia.
The Prime Minister on Tuesday announced a series of measures aimed at ramping up pressure on Vladimir Putin as he continues to resist calls for an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, Sir Keir said he "strongly" believes that restrictions on the price of Russian crude oil should be strengthened to deplete its energy revenues.
He also dismissed suggestions that plans, led by Britain and France, for a "coalition of the willing" to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine were dead in the water as progress towards a potential truce stalls.
In a bilateral meeting with the Ukrainian president on the sidelines of the leaders' conference on Tuesday, the two leaders "agreed to drive forward the next stage of military support", Number 10 said.
"Their meeting followed an extensive session with wider partners, focused on maintaining momentum to secure a just and lasting peace for Ukraine," the readout said.
"The Prime Minister and president agreed to drive forward the next stage of military support - adding that a strong Ukraine is essential to guarantee peace in the long term.
"They agreed to convene the next coalition of the willing meeting in the coming weeks."They also discussed ramping up the economic pressure on Putin, with the Prime Minister updating the president on the new sanctions announced by the United Kingdom today."They agreed there should be no place to hide for those who fund Putin's war machine."
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