Paramedic among at least 20 killed in Russian bombing in Ukraine

An injured rescuer with a bloody hand and a face covered in ash after attending homes damaged by Russian missile strikes in Odesa, Ukraine (Picture: Ukrainian Emergency Service/AFP)

Emergency services were hit by a Russian missile as they rescued people from a bombed house in the Ukrainian city of Odesa.

At least 20 people died, including one paramedic and one emergency service worker, in the Iskander-M missile strikes in the early hours of Friday.

Bodies were placed in foil blankets as rescuers cleared rubble and battled flames sparked by the strikes.

The two rocket attacks injured a further 75, causing damage to at least 10 houses, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service and regional governor Oleh Kiper.

Of those, nine people remain in serious condition in hospital.

Emergency service workers battle fires lit by Russian missile strikes on the Black Sea port city of Odesa in Ukraine on Friday (Picture: Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Smoke rising from the rubble of a building destroyed by a Russian missile attack in Odesa, Ukraine (Picture: Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty)

Civilian infrastructure including gas and electricity supply and communications were damaged in the strikes.

Emergency responders could be seen covered in ash and looking exasperated after responding to the strikes, which caused a blaze.

The tactic of firing a second missile at the same location, aiming to hit rescuers, is known in military terms as a ‘double tap’.

Kiper described the attack, launched from Russian-occupied Crimea, as ‘a very mean attack by these scum’.

He declared a day of mourning on Saturday while searches for people under the rubble continued.

This is the second such observance in under two weeks.

Taking to Telegram on Friday evening, he said: ‘My deepest condolences to the families of the victims.

‘A speedy recovery to all the victims.’

Locals queued outside medical centres as they rushed to donate blood.

Zelenskiy said on Telegram: ‘Our defence forces will certainly do everything to ensure that the Russian killers feel our fair response.’

Odesa is a resort city on the Black Sea coast of southern Ukraine.

An apartment building damaged in a Russian missile strike on Odesa on March 2 (Picture: Igor Tkachenko/EPA)

It is famous for hotels beside beaches usually packed with people paddling in the water.

The city’s grid-pattern streets filled with 19th and 18th century buildings are full of bars and restaurants, gold-domed churches, and casinos and strip clubs.

Even during the war, Ukrainians from across the country frequent the city of one million people for respite in the warm sea breeze.

This is despite the beaches being closed off for a time as debris, dead animals and explosive floated in the nearby waters after the Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka dam exploded, releasing huge volumes of water down the River Dnipro.

As Ukraine’s main port, it’s become a key target in Russia’s drone and missile warfare.

On March 2, a Russian drone struck a multi-storey building, killing 12 people, including five children.

Russia has intensified its attacks on the port city since last summer.

The invading country launched three rounds of missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones towards the city in a single night on August 14 last year.

Residents spent hours sheltering from the attacks as air defences rattled, missiles exploded and buildings shook during the hours-long raid.

Three people were wounded and a market burned to the ground, but no one died.

Russia’s attacks have mainly targeted Odesa’s port infrastructure, vital to Ukraine’s war effort and the survival of its economy.

Emergency service workers carry a comrade injured as they responded to the damage caused by a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine on Friday (Picture: Ukrainian Emergency Service /AP)

Vladimir Putin’s officials claim they’re also targeting facilities where Ukraine stores sea drones that have knocked much of Russia’s Black Sea fleet out of action.

Ukraine has struggled to continue transporting grain, its biggest export, through Odesa as they have been disrupted since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The port and surrounding facilities in the region were part of an agreement between Russia and Ukraine, brokered by Turkey last year, to facilitate the export of grain.

Russian is still the most-used language in Odesa.

The city grew as a resort destination for wealthy Russians under the reign of Catherine the Great.

Until Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014, the city remained a popular destination for Russian tourists.

Its Orthodox cathedral, nearly destroyed by Russian strikes in July, is still owned by the Moscow Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church.

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