Regional governor Oleh Kiper, writing on the Telegram messaging
app, said that in addition to those killed in the attack, one
man died after suffering a stroke attributed to the strike.
Kiper said eight of the injured were in serious condition,
including a 4-year-old child. Among the injured were another
child and a pregnant woman.
Reuters Television footage showed the roof of the ornate
building, a private law academy, all but destroyed after the
strike. Firefighters were directing water on small fires still
burning.
"Monsters. Beasts. Savages. Scum. I don't know what else to
say," Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said in a video posted on
Telegram. "People are going for a walk by the sea and they are
shooting and killing."
Pictures posted earlier online showed the building ablaze and
smoke billowing skyward.
Video footage, which could not be immediately verified, showed
people receiving treatment on the street alongside pools of
blood. One photo showed officials examining part of a missile.
A student at the academy who identified herself by her first
name, Maria, said the blaze was caused when the missile was
intercepted.
"In front of my eyes, a missile was shot down, this was just in
front of me. My doors were blown open and the glass was shaking.
And then I saw this," she told Reuters, pointing to the burning
building.
"Just before this happened, we wanted to go down there for a
walk, but thank God we weren't there when it happened."
Ukrainian navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk, in a posting on a
military Telegram channel, said the strike was conducted by an
Iskander-M ballistic missile with a cluster warhead.
Public broadcaster Suspilne said the academy's president, a
prominent former member of parliament, Serhiy Kivalov, was among
the injured.
Odesa has been a frequent target of Russian missile and drone
attacks, particular port infrastructure.
(Reporting by Yuliia DysaEditing by Ron Popeski, Ros Russell,
Toby Chopra, Deepa Babington and Gerry Doyle)
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