On the night of 7 October, Russia launched a missile attack on south Ukraine’s Odesa Oblast with supersonic anti-ship Oniks missiles. A resort and a grain storage facility were hit, and houses and cars were damaged, the South Operational Command reported.
The head of the Odesa Regional Military Command said four people were injured by glass shards.
The missiles were fired from the Bastion coastal missile system in the temporarily occupied Crimea, the military said.
They hit the building of a resort in a recreational area and a grain storage facility of the port infrastructure.
Missile debris and a blast wave caused a fire in a garage cooperative, and several apartment buildings were damaged, the military added.
Oniks missiles are a type of supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles developed by Russia. They can be launched from surface ships, submarines, and land-based platforms. They have a range of up to 600 km and a speed of Mach 2.6, can fly at low altitudes, and maneuver to evade enemy defenses.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat, Oniks missiles pose a significant threat to the entire coastal region, including Odesa and its critical infrastructure. Countering them is a complex task due to their low altitude flight path and range.
To combat these missiles, the Ukrainian military would need to target the Russian coastal defense complexes known as “Bastion,” which are located in Crimea and serve as launch sites for Oniks missiles, Ihnat pointed out. “Just like with the S-300, it is difficult to counter the missiles, so it is better to destroy the installations on the ground.”
Odesa Oblast, with its close proximity to occupied Crimea, often falls under Russian attacks:
- 25 September 2023: Russia launched a massive air attack on Odesa, injuring a woman. Ukraine managed to intercept most of the missiles and drones in this attack.
- 17 September 2023: Another attack occurred when Russia targeted an agricultural enterprise in Odesa with six Iranian-made Shahed one-way attack drones and ten cruise missiles.
- 7 September 2023: Russian forces attacked Odesa port infrastructure, injuring two people, using 33 Shahed drones.
- 6 September 2023: Russia attacked Ukraine’s southwesternmost Izmail district of Odesa Oblast with one-way attack drones, but Ukraine successfully downed all eight Russian missiles and 15 of 25 drones,
- 4 September 2023: On this night, Russian forces targeted Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts in overnight attacks.
- 3 September 2023: Russia targeted Odesa river ports with 25 Shahed “kamikaze” drones, and Ukraine was able to down 22 of them.
- 16 August 2023: Russian terrorists attacked Odesa Oblast twice in one night with strike drones in an attempt to disrupt grain exports.
