Ukraine says Russia launched missile, drone strikes on south

Russian overnight missile and drone strikes have wounded at least eight people and done damage to a museum and a port in southern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials.

Kiev said on Monday that Russian forces launched four missiles and nearly a dozen attack drones targeting Odesa in the south of the country.

“Fifteen Shaheds and one Kh-59 air guided missile were shot down,” the Ukrainian air force said, repeating allegations that Russia has been using Iranian-made Shahed unmanned aerial vehicle against Ukraine which was dismissed by Iran.

The Black Sea port of Odesa came under attack late on Sunday, wounding at least eight people, setting ablaze trucks loaded with grain and damaging one of the city’s principal art galleries, officials said.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said about 20 multi-storey buildings and more than two dozen cars were damaged in the attack.

Fifteen drones targeted the city’s port infrastructure, warehouses, specialized vehicles, and trucks carrying grain, Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said.

In related news, Ukraine’s air force said in a statement that Russia launched four different missiles from Crimea, targeting the southern Odesa and Kherson regions.

Ukrainians say Russia intensified its attacks on Odesa and other ports featuring grain export infrastructure after Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said the Russian attack was in retaliation to Ukrainian strikes on Russian targets in Crimea.

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"This is their despicable answer to the reality – the Ukrainian Crimea will be demilitarized, without the Black Sea fleet and military bases of the Russians," he said.

Meantime, the Odesa Fine Arts Museum was reportedly hit in the attack.

A video showing smashed windows and debris inside what was said to be the Odesa National Art Museum was released by the Odesa city council.

Also, Ukrainian officials said on Monday that the Russian military had mounted several "unsuccessful" attacks across the frontlines in the south and east of Ukraine over the last week.

Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday it had repelled Ukrainian attacks near Robotyne.

In a briefing with top military commanders, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last week his forces were "continuing to conduct an active defense, inflicting effective damage on the enemy" and that Russian "units are moving forward, occupying more advantageous positions."

Ukraine's Kovalyov said on Monday that Kiev was conducting its own "offensive operations" to the south of Bakhmut -- a city destroyed by months of artillery fire and urban warfare before Russia eventually captured it in May. AFP could not verify the claims.

Previously, Kiev's top military commander had confessed that Ukrainian force had failed to gain any significant advancement on the warfronts despite the much-touted offensive and intensive combat.

Ukraine commanders say the war with Russia is in a stalemate.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied the conflict has reached a deadlock, although the sprawling frontline has barely moved in a year despite the months-long Ukrainian offensive.

US-led Western countries have provided Zelensky with more than $100bn worth of arms and munitions for Kiev's forces to fight a proxy war for the West against Russia's stronger and better troops.

The Kremlin launched its special military operation in Donbas last February to stop US-led NATO’s eastward encroachment and Kiev’s persecution of the Russian-speaking pro-Moscow population there.

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