LIVETEXT War in Ukraine, Day 797 | “Harry Potter Castle” In Odessa, Destroyed In Missile Attack

During the night from Monday to Tuesday, explosions were heard in Crimea, specifically in Simferopol, Gvardeysky and Djankoi, residents of the area said, reports Ukrainska Pravda, citing information published on Telegram.

According to Russian authorities, the Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea to mainland Russia, was blocked for about an hour.

A Russian missile hit a landmark building in Odessa, killing four people on Monday night. Another man died of a heart attack shortly after the attack. A dog was also killed by shrapnel, The Kyiv Post reports.

At the same time, at least 32 people were injured, including two children and a pregnant woman. 25 of them were transported to the hospital, as reported by the head of the regional administration Oleg Kiper, who immediately visited the place. According to him, “the girl, who is not even five years old, is in an extremely serious condition. Six other adults are also in intensive care.”

The seaside building in the Arcadia neighborhood was known to Odessa residents as “Harry Potter’s Castle”. It was the reception house of the International Humanitarian University, a private institution owned by Sergei Kivalov, a former deputy in the Verkhovna Rada and supporter of former President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia after the 2014 Revolution.

According to the cited publication, Russia launched an Iskander-M missile with cluster munitions, which explains the high number of casualties.

Many of the injured people were walking in the nearby green area. Such munitions are used to kill manpower and pose a threat primarily to people, not to equipment and soldiers.

A Russian missile attack on Monday killed at least four people and injured 28 others, in the port city of Odesa, in the southwest of Ukraine, the regional government announced, revising an initial balance sheet, AFP informs, quoted by Agerpres.

“Three women and one man were killed. According to an updated balance sheet, 28 people were injured, including two children (…) and a pregnant woman. Four injured are in serious condition, the doctors are fighting for their lives”, Governor Oleg Kiper announced on Telegram.

Before that, he had informed about at least two dead and 17 wounded as a result of this Russian attack and specified that “residential buildings and (other) civil infrastructures” were damaged.

Odessa, a vital Black Sea port for Ukrainian exports, is regularly targeted by deadly missile and drone attacks.

Meanwhile, in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which is also a frequent target of bombings, a civilian was wounded in a Russian attack on Monday, according to local authorities.

The governor of the region with the same name, Oleg Sinegoubov, stated, also on Telegram, that a 42-year-old man was injured by shrapnel and an explosion in a Russian “missile attack”.