Russian forces carried out multiple strikes targeting the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa on Friday, as the Russian people took to the polls that will all but assuredly result in another term for President Vladimir Putin.
At least 14 people were killed in the attack, including a paramedic and a rescue worker, while 46 were injured, Odesa Gov. Oleh Kiper said. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said rescue workers responded to the scene of a strike when Russian forces fired another missile at their location.
The tactic is known as a “double tap” and often incurs casualties among first responders.
The strikes came the same day Russia began its presidential elections, in which Putin is expected to win another six-year term.
“It is absolutely ruthless to hit the same location twice in the space of minutes, causing the death and injury of people who had quickly come to help the survivors,” United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine Denise Brown said after a Russian double-tap strike in August 2023. “They are front-line responders, helping people in their most difficult times, and must be respected. This horrifying attack is certainly a serious breach of international humanitarian law and violates any principle of humanity.”
The war in Ukraine is largely considered a stalemate, though Russia has capitalized in recent weeks on Ukraine’s depleted stockpiles as support from its Western allies falters.
The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced a new $300 million military aid package to Ukraine, its first of the calendar year.
“With a lack of replacement funds available to replenish DoD inventories, the Administration had been forced to pause PDA packages since December 2023. DoD is able to support this extraordinary package after identifying contract savings from previously appropriated supplemental funding that can be applied to replace DoD stocks,” the Pentagon said. “Today’s announcement provides a short-term stop gap, but it is nowhere near enough to meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs.”
Less than two weeks ago, another Russian strike hit Odesa only hundreds of feet from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
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Mitsotakis and Zelensky met in Odesa and toured another apartment building where 12 people died days earlier in a similar missile strike.
“I think this is the best, most vivid reminder for us that there is a real war going on here. Every day there is a war, which does not only affect the front, the soldiers,” Mitsotakis said at the time, according to an unofficial translation of a transcript published by his office.