The Russian missile attack seriously damages the Historic Center of Odesa de Ukrania

(Reuters) The Russian forces launched missiles in the center of the port of Odesa del Mar Negro de Ukrania, a Unesco World Heritage site, seriously damaging historical buildings and wounding seven people, local officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attack was “a deliberate strike” that again stressed the need to strengthen Ukraine aerial defenses.

He said that the Norwegian diplomats had been among those who were “in the epicenter of the strike” in the historical district.

Odesa’s regional governor, Oleh Kiper, said seven people were injured and that emergency teams remained on the scene.

The online images published by Kiper and the mayor of Odesa, Hennady Trukhanov, showed the lobby and other parts of the Bristol hotel, a luxury milestone built at the end of the 19th century, reduced to the debris.

The concert hall of the Odesa Philharmonic, in front of the hotel, suffered damage with many of its shattered windows.

The online video showed fragments scattered on a street several hundred meters (yards) near the opera of the same era. The museums in the district also suffered damage.

Kiper told National Television that three explosions had resonated at intervals, which he described as a “well -established practice” by the Russian army of repeated attacks in the same objective.

“However, in this case a missile was used to penetrate concrete,” he said while standing on a street near emergency equipment.

“This means that a civil hotel was deliberately directed to destroy the floors and structures inside, causing destruction and, of course, kill civilians who stay there at that time.”

Zelenskiy, speaking in his nocturnal video direction, said the attack was made “directly in the city, in common civil buildings.”

“Again and again, air defense is the highest priority. We are working with all our partners to provide more protection for our country.”

Zelenskiy said a meeting of the Ukraine command had focused on improving weapons systems and accelerating deliveries.

“We need faster deliveries and a greater number of systems and weapons that will allow us to save the lives of more of our soldiers, our people,” he said.

“More orders for drones. More investments for the development of robotic systems. And more orders for basic weapons.”

(Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar report; Sandra Male edition)