Russian drone attacks on Odesa late on Sunday evening left at least five people injured, set trucks with grain on fire and damaged one of the city’s principal art galleries, Ukrainian officials in the Black Sea port said.
“On November 6, the Odesa National Art Museum turns 124 years old,” Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, of which the Odesa city is the administrative centre, said on the Telegram messaging app. “On the eve of November 6, the Russians ‘congratulated’ our architectural monument with a missile that hit nearby.”
The walls of the building were damaged, some windows and glass were broken, he said.
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Kipper later said that 15 Russia-launched drones were destroyed over the city. Several high-rise residential buildings were damaged and warehouse and trucks with grain caught fire, which was promptly extinguished.
It was not clear whether the buildings and the trucks were hit by the drones or falling debris. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
The Odesa National Art Museum, in one of the oldest palaces of Odesa, housed more than 10,000 pieces of art before the war, including paintings by some of the best-known Russian and Ukrainian artists of the late 19th and early 20th century.
The Odesa city council published a video showing blown out windows and debris inside what it said was the art museum.
On the street near the museum, the attack left a several-meter deep hole. According to the city authorities, one person was injured there.
Kiper said that all five of the injured, from around the city, were hospitalized.