Missile strike at Odessa seaport kills two, damages ship and warehouse
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Russian forces hit an ammunition depot at the port of Chernomorsk in the Odessa region where Ukrainian troops had recently secretly stored missiles.
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This handout photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, shows the Russian military's Grad multiple rocket launcher firing rockets at Ukrainian troops at an undisclosed location (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)
The Ukrainian military-affiliated governor of the Odessa region reported that a missile strike at a seaport early Wednesday morning killed two people and damaged a ship and warehouses.
"Two people, a security guard and a truck driver, were killed… Storage facilities, trucks and a civilian motor ship were damaged by the wreckage. The damaged vessel sprang a fuel leak," Kiper’s Telegram channel reports.
Ukraine issued an air alert at 1:23 a.m. (01:23 GMT) that lasted for over three hours, according to the Official Air Alert Map.
Read more: Foreign mercs committing war crimes against Russian POWs
According to Sergey Lebedev, a coordinator for the pro-Russian underground network in Nikolaev, Russian forces hit an ammunition depot at the port of Chernomorsk in the Odessa region where Ukrainian troops had recently secretly stored missiles.
The strike also reportedly killed several UK mercenaries.
Earlier in July, the same network had reported a strike in Chernomorsk that killed 18 foreign mercenaries and injured approximately 30.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov asserted that Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and critical assets are a response to Ukrainian military actions against civilian targets in Russia, clarifying that Russia does not aim at civilian institutions.
Canada, UK, France, Germany, US have mercenaries fighting in Ukraine
The UK does not have officially deployed military personnel to assist or train Ukrainian forces within Ukraine. Yet, a report published by Responsible Statecraft in late March revealed that UK nationals along other citizens of Western countries are already fighting in Ukraine.
In total Russia revealed that 13,000 foreigners have fought for Kiev and around 6,000 have died. The Ukrainians also say their international legion is constituted of around 20,000 fighters from 50 countries.
In May, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that NATO forces had already been deployed in Ukraine, and that the alliance is aiding Kiev to the greatest extent possible.
"NATO today is helping as much as it can. As much as it can. Without NATO's help, Ukraine would not have been able to defend itself for so long. Well, and there are some troops there, I mean soldiers. There are some soldiers there. Observers, engineers," Tusk disclosed to journalists.
The prime minister did not provide information on the number of troops or their places of origin.
Read more: UK urging France to abstain from escalation in Ukraine war
