Russia kills rescuers in deadly double strike on Ukraine’s Odesa

KYIV — Russia launched lethal missile strikes on the Black Sea city of Odesa on Friday morning, killing 14 people and wounding dozens more.

After the first strike, a group of medics and rescuers arrived at the scene, at which point the Kremlin’s forces hit the spot with another missile. Fourteen people were killed, according to local officials, including a rescue officer and a medic who were helping civilians wounded in the original strike.

“Another 46 people, including seven employees of the State Emergency Service, were injured. Russia is a terrorist country,” Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional military administration, said in a statement.

The local prosecutor’s office opened a criminal proceeding into the strikes as a war crime, as prosecutors said only residential buildings were hit and civilians suffered.

Russia has intensified shelling of Odesa this month, as President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion drags on.

The last time Russia hit the port city — Ukraine’s main export hub — was during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on March 6. On that occasion, a missile landed several hundred meters away from the high-level political delegation.

On March 2, a Russian drone hit a residential building, killing 12 people, five of whom were children.