(CNN)At least 21 people, including children, died when Russia launched an overnight missile attack.At a housing and recreation center near Odesa in southern Ukraine, officials said Friday.
According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the attack struck a residential block, killing 16 people.
When the missile hit the community center, another four people, including a child, died and a third missile landed in the field. Respondents said at least 40 people were injured.
"I don't expect to find a living person, but I have a chance," the first Deputy Minister of the Interior, Yevhenii Yenin, said on Friday from the scene of the attack.
Images from the scene showed that the residential building was torn and debris was scattered on the ground.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia is terrorizing its own cities and people.
"As the Russian mass media says every day, this is neither a single strike nor an accident. This is a targeted Russian missile attack, our city, town, It is a Russian terrorist attack on our people, adults and children. " He said in a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in Kive.
He describes Russian missiles as "supersonic cruise anti-ship missiles created to attack aircraft carriers and other large warships," which the Russian army has regular civilians. Used for normal buildings.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused the strike on Twitter, saying: Defense system as soon as possible. Help us save lives and end this war.
According to Health Minister Ala Nemerenko of Moldova, one of the buildings affected by the strike was a rehabilitation center to treat children in Moldova with health problems.
In a Facebook statement, Nemerenko said the building itself wasn't badly damaged, but the attack killed one employee and injured five.
The refurbished sanatorium "gave children with health problems in the Republic of Moldova the opportunity to benefit from medical rehabilitation services on the Black Sea coast," Nemerenko said.
She paid tribute to the medical staff at the facility where she was injured and killed in a Russian bombardment.
"These peaceful people have made the days of Moldovan children more beautiful. They have taken care of their rehabilitation with a lot of love and dedication, and we from the bottom of our hearts. I hope they will be fully recovered. I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to my colleagues who have died in my family. "
A rehabilitation center owned by Moldova since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Was closed to the patient, Nemerenko said. It is believed that the child was not in the center at the time of the attack.
In the Odesa region, adjacent to the strategically important Black Sea, combat has intensified over the course of several weeks.
"I understand why the enemy occupied (Snake) Island. They filled the territory with destructive means and fired from them," state border spokesman Andrie Demchenko said at a briefing on Friday. Said in. "We hope that the bombardment of Ukrainian territory will be reduced."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia was targeting Ukrainian civilian territories on Friday, ammunition. He repeated frequent claims to concentrate airstrikes on buildings, including those of Ukraine and training units. However, as with previous such claims after the Russian attack, he was unable to provide evidence that this was the case.
Russia has made slow but significant profits in the eastern part of Ukraine since refocusing on the invasion of Ukraine. Officials in the Russian-backed People's Republic of Luhansk acknowledged only "partial" Russian success on Friday, but Russian troops "completely hijacked" the oil refinery in the confused city of Lysychans'k in eastern Ukraine. Said.
According to Selhi Hay Day, head of the military regime in the Luhansk region, Russia's barrage against Lysychans'k is unforgiving.
"People dream of silence for at least 30 minutes, but the occupiers don't stop firing from all available weapons," Hayday said Thursday.