Ukraine, Russian attacks on Odessa: at least five injured

Russian attacks took place at night in Odessa, where a number of residential buildings were hit, the head of the local military administration, Serhiy Lysak, was quoted by Ukrainian media as saying. At least five people were injured in the attacks, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on X . "Fires broke out in two buildings," he added. The Ukrainian leader went on to report that a drone raid also hit Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk, with a toll of one wounded. While in Kharkiv "railway infrastructure was hit" and "thousands of families were left without electricity due to the shelling". Attacks were also conducted against the Sumy region and the Zaporizhzhia region, Zelensky added.

Back in Odessa, Serhiy Lysak had also reported Russian raids during the night between Wednesday and Thursday, with several civilian buildings hit and a toll of a dozen wounded. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force informs that in the last few hours "about 190 enemy drones" have been intercepted heading towards locations in the north, south and east of the country.

Record Russian drone attacks in Ukraine in April. This was noted by an Afp analysis based on data published by the Ukrainian Air Force. According to the survey, Moscow launched 6,583 long-range drones in the month just ended, up 2% from March, and a significant increase in daylight attacks, while negotiations to end the conflict, triggered by the Russian invasion in February 2022, remain at a stalemate. Russian forces have noticably increased the number of daytime attacks, whereas previously Moscow targeted Ukraine almost exclusively at night: a move that Kiev denounces as a tactic aimed at maximising civilian casualties, given that the conflict has already claimed tens of thousands of lives. The number of missiles launched by Moscow - 141 - also increased by 2% compared to the previous month, but is a far cry from the 288 launches recorded in February.

The incident in which a bomb that exploded in a remote location in the far east of Russia killed a soldier was actually a failed assassination attempt on Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov, known in the media as 'the butcher of Bucha': this is what the Guardian reports, citing three sources with knowledge of the incident. This Russian officer is considered to be one of the main perpetrators of the massacre of civilians discovered in the Ukrainian town in April 2022, in the first weeks of the invasion ordered by Moscow.

For these facts, Omurbekov was subject to sanctions by the European Union and was blacklisted by the US State Department. The incident, reported in recent hours, actually dates back to Tuesday morning, when an explosive device detonated in a residential building in Knyaze-Volkonskoye-1, a closed military town near the border with China. Omurbekov himself reportedly lives in the building. A junior officer died in the explosion, while the colonel 'remained unharmed'. Two sources quoted by the Guardian reported that the bomber had placed the device in a mailbox between the first and second floor and installed a camera, but the attack 'targeted the wrong entrance'.