Ukraine war briefing: Russian missile attack on world heritage site in Odesa damages historic buildings and wounds seven

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Norwegian diplomats among those in the epicentre of ‘deliberate strike’ on Unesco-listed district. What we know on day 1,074

• Russian forces launched missiles on the centre of southern Ukraine’s port city of Odesa, a Unesco world heritage site, seriously damaging historic buildings and injuring seven people on Friday night, local officials said. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, condemned the “deliberate strike” that again underscored the need to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences. He said Norwegian diplomats had been among those “who were in the epicentre of the strike” in the historic district. Seven people were injured and emergency crews remained at the scene, said Odesa’s regional governor, Oleh Kiper.
  
  All the injured were in “moderate” condition and receiving medical assistance, he said. Pictures posted online by Kiper and Odesa’s mayor, Hennady Trukhanov, showed the lobby and other parts of the Hotel Bristol, a luxury landmark built at the end of the 19th century, reduced to rubble. The Odesa Philharmonic concert hall, opposite the hotel, was damaged with many of its windows smashed. Museums in the district also were damaged. Kiper told national television that three explosions had resounded at intervals, which he described as a “well-established practice” by the Russian military of repeated attacks on the same target.
  

Source: The Guardian