Destroyed cars are seen next to a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine January 17, 2024. Press Service of the Operational Command 'South'/Handout via REUTERS
KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine shot down 19 of the 20 Shahed drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack that wounded three people and damaged residential buildings in the Black Sea port of Odesa, officials said on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian military said the Russian attack targeted Odesa and other southern regions for at least three hours.
Drone debris hit residential buildings, and damaged a gas pipe and a dozen cars in one of the port's districts, the Interior Ministry said. Three people were wounded and about 130 were evacuated, it added.
"Main efforts of the enemy were concentrated on attacks on Odesa. The kamikaze drones entered at a critically low altitude from the Black Sea," the South military command said in a statement, adding that 11 drones were downed in Odesa.
Moscow has repeatedly tried to hit infrastructure in Ukraine's southern Black Sea ports since it pulled out of a U.N.-brokered deal that allowed safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments via the sea.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash; editing by Miral Fahmy)
