Russia fired one Iskander-M ballistic missile and 206 attack drones at Ukraine overnight into 30 April, with two waves of strikes hitting the southern port city of Odesa and damaging residential buildings, a kindergarten, a hotel, and a shopping center. Twenty people have been injured, two of them in critical condition, Odesa officials report.
The Iskander-M was launched from Russia's Rostov Oblast, the Ukrainian Air Force reports. The drone fleet — more than 140 of them Shaheds, the rest Gerberas, Italmases, and other types — was launched from Kursk, Bryansk, Shatalovo, Orel, Millerovo, and Prymorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, and from Hvardiyske in occupied Crimea.
Two waves on Odesa
The air-raid alert in Odesa district was declared at 23:21 on 29 April, the Air Force reports, with the Ukrainian military tracking drones moving in from the Black Sea toward Odesa. The first explosions in the city were heard at 23:33; a second wave arrived at 1:08 a.m., during which the Air Force again recorded drones approaching Odesa. The all-clear sounded at 1:27.
Prymorskyi district: kindergarten, high-rises, dozens of vehicles
Damage was concentrated in Odesa's Prymorskyi district, the Odesa City Military Administration reports. A high-rise and a five-story residential building were hit, with fires breaking out on the upper floors and roof. According to the city administration, rescuers localized the blazes. Private homes in the central part of the city were also damaged, as were a hotel, a shopping center, and administrative buildings. The kindergarten sustained "significant damage," city officials say. At several parking lots, dozens of buses and passenger cars were destroyed or damaged.
Khadzhybeyskyi district: warehouses, garages, infrastructure
Strikes in the city's Khadzhybeyskyi district hit infrastructure facilities, warehouse buildings, and a garage cooperative, the Odesa City Military Administration reports.
Casualties
The injured include people aged 17 to 70, Odesa Oblast head Oleh Kiper said in an updated count, raising the toll from an initial 16 to 20. Two are in resuscitation in critical condition, the oblast administration says, and "medics are fighting for their lives." One man was hospitalized in the trauma ward; the rest received care on-site or were referred for outpatient treatment.
More than 280 emergency and utility specialists and 68 units of equipment have been deployed to clear the aftermath, according to the Odesa City Military Administration. Operational headquarters have been set up at the strike sites for residents of damaged buildings.
The wider air-defense picture
According to preliminary data as of 08:00, the Ukrainian Air Force reports that air defense "shot down/suppressed 172 enemy UAVs of the Shahed, Gerbera, Italmas, and other types in the north, south, west, and east of the country." Strikes by the ballistic missile and 32 attack drones were recorded at 22 locations, with downed drone debris falling at a further 9 locations, the Air Force adds.
The defense was conducted by aviation, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare and unmanned-systems units, and mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine, the Air Force reports.
Recent context
Odesa has been struck in waves through April. On the night of 27 April, Russian drones hit residential buildings and a hotel in the city, injuring civilians, including children. On 26 April, Russian strikes damaged port and logistics infrastructure, a storage tank, administrative buildings, and freight transport in the region; a civilian vessel under the flag of Palau was also hit.
