Russian missile attacks on November 18 have left at least 21 people dead and over 100 injured in Ukraine, as strikes targeted the cities of Odesa and Sumy, according to Ukrainian officials.
In Odesa, a midday missile attack killed 10 people and injured 39, including a child, with four in critical condition, Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration wrote on Telegram. The strike damaged residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, with the city’s center among the hardest-hit areas.
Hours earlier, a late-night missile strike devastated a residential building in Sumy, a city 40 kilometers from the Russian border, killing 11 people, including two children, and wounding 89, according to Ukraine's Emergency Situations Ministry.
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5
Dozens Of Ukrainian Casualties After Deadly Russian Strike On Sumy
Rescuers evacuated over 400 residents and continue to search for survivors. The attack also left Sumy’s administrative center without power, said Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. More than 400 people were evacuated from the building.
The rescuers were checking every apartment looking for people who might be still in the damaged building.
"Every life destroyed by Russia is a big tragedy," Klymenko said.
The late-night attack on Sumy followed what Kyiv said was a "massive" attack on Ukraine's power grid with 120 missiles and 90 drones that killed at least seven people. Moscow routinely denies targeting civilian infrastructure. Such strikes are widely considered a war crime.
Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine's power infrastructure since Moscow's launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts.
SEE ALSO: Ukraine Live Briefing: 1,001 Days Of WarThe massive Russian attack also came as U.S. President Joe Biden had reportedly authorized the use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike inside Russia, after lobbying by Ukrainian officials.
The weapons are likely to be used in response to North Korea's decision to send thousands of troops to support Russia in the Kursk region where Ukraine mounted a military incursion over the summer.
"Today, much is being said in the media about us receiving permission for the relevant actions. But strikes are not made with words. Such things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in his nightly video address.
In the overnight attack on Sumy, the Ukrainian Air Force said the Russian military used two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and a Kh-59 guided missile.
Photographs posted on Telegram by the Ukrainian State Emergency Service showed firefighters battling a blaze consuming cars with rescuers carrying people out of a building. One image showed a building with nearly all windows blown out and its facade damaged.
Sumy regional prosecutors said the attack damaged 90 apartments, 28 cars, two educational institutions, and 13 buildings.