Russia bombards the city of Odessa, 17 civilians killed

The number of dead in the building has reached 17,” said the spokesman for the Odessa military administration Sergei Bratchuk, adding that the missile was launched by a plane coming from the Black Sea.

Friday's attack video showed the burning ruins of buildings in Odessa.

A second missile that hit the Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky Circle of Odessa killed three people, including one child and injured another, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs statement.

The second rocket hit the three and four-story buildings of a recreation centre, the ministry said on Twitter.

The attack comes after Russian forces withdrew from Serpent Island, a key Black Sea island Thursday, potentially facilitating the threat to Ukraine's port city of Odessa. But Russian forces continued their offensive to surround the last bastion of resistance in the eastern province of Luhansuk.

According to a Ukrainian general's statement, Russia has hit 68 civilian objects in the second half of June.

Olexii Hromov earlier said the number of Russian missile attacks in Ukraine had doubled in the past two weeks, and that Moscow was using missiles with the low accuracy of the Soviet era in more than half of the attacks.

Russia used a Soviet-era Kh-22 missile in the attack on the crowded mall in the central town of Kremencuk on Monday, where at least 18 people were killed, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Russia repeatedly denies targeting civilians. / REL/