Violence Escalates As Russian Missile Attack On Odessa Kills 21
As missile and drone attacks on Ukraine intensify, President Zelensky promises retribution
On March 15 Russia launched a ballistic missile attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa that killed 21 people and injured 70. In response, President Zelensky condemned the deadly attack as “heinous”, and promised a “fair response”.
While condemning the attack, Zelensky also acknowledged that many of the victims were paramedics and first responders.
"Two missiles were fired, with the second hitting rescuers and medics who had arrived at the scene of the first strike," he said.
According to regional governor Oleh Kiper, the two deadly Iskander-M missiles were fired from Russian-occupied Crimea to damage civilian infrastructure, gas, and electricity supply lines in the coastal city.
Along with medics and rescuers, those killed also included two national police officers and a former deputy mayor of the city.
Appearing on national TV Mr Kiper said that some city residents were facing supply cuts to electricity and gas as a result of the strikes.
On Telegram, Zelensky promised that the Ukrainian Defence Forces would “do everything to ensure that the Russian killers feel our fair response”.
Earlier this month it was reported that Zelensky survived an alleged assassination attempt while touring Odessa after a Russian missile struck near his motorcade, killing and wounding several people.
Meanwhile, Odessa is not the only place to have been attacked over recent days. Friday also saw an overnight drone attack on the western Ukrainian region of Vinnytsia, which killed two and injured three others.
Of the 27 combat drones launched from Russian-occupied Crimea, all were shot down by Ukrainian air defence. Drone debris nevertheless destroyed civilian objects on the ground.
These deadly attacks come after Ukraine launched a series of long-range drone attacks into Russia that targeted oil refineries, causing serious fires. As recently as Friday morning, Ukrainian drones battered a refinery in the Russian Kaluga region.
Elsewhere along the frontline, paramilitary groups fighting on the side of Ukraine launched a border raid into Russia. On March 17 Russian volunteers from the Siberian Battalion captured the village of Gorkovsky in the Belgorod region. In the city of Belgorod, schools and shops have been forced to close due to bombardments that have been blamed on Ukraine.
Also in response, Ukraine launched a wave of drones into Russia, attacking at least eight different regions on Saturday night and Sunday morning. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, 35 drones were intercepted and destroyed across the country.
The current escalation of violence between Ukraine and Russia comes amid the Russian elections, which Putin looks certain to win. Perhaps to weaken morale and remind Russians of the reality of war, pro-Ukraine forces have decided to attack Belgorod. Drone attacks on refineries are also intended to weaken Russia’s economy and therefore its ability to fund its war machine. Putin, meanwhile, has decided that he must respond with strength to Ukrainian incursions which are inflicting a heavy toll on Russia’s economy.
Taken together, both strategies have resulted in a worsening of violence. In response to Russia’s deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, Zelensky has no choice but to respond in kind. The alternative would be seen as a sign of weakness and an eventual capitulation to Russian occupation.
Just as the German bombing of Britain strengthened its resolve in World War Two, the Russian bombardment of Ukraine is only hardening Ukrainian attitudes towards Russia. For evidence of this, one needs only look at Odessa.
With most residents being native Russian speakers, Odessa was once seen as one of the most pro-Russian cities in Ukraine. Russian brutality since the start of the war, however, has changed hearts and minds. As a result, today, Odessa is strongly pro-Ukrainian. In December 2022, residents of Odessa voted to dismantle a monument to the Russian leader Catherine the Great, who founded the city in 1794, in a symbolic move that represented a rejection of Putin’s claim that Odessa is historically Russian. This rejection of Russian imperialism in Odessa is quite extraordinary considering that many Odessans can trace their ancestry back to Russian colonists.
While Russian bombardment is failing to dent Ukrainian resolve, it is nevertheless causing a huge amount of grief, suffering, and anger. However the war ends, it is unlikely that the Ukrainian people will accept anything other than full sovereignty over its territory, including the Russian-occupied regions. So long as Crimea and other parts of southern Ukraine remain in Russian hands, the city of Odessa will be vulnerable to further attacks. For this reason, nothing less than full Ukrainian national liberation is acceptable.
This will of course require more Western aid, yet Ukraine has shown what can be done with drone technology in a modern war, drone technology that is becoming increasingly cheap to manufacture. Russia may be a bigger economy than Ukraine, but it also has more to lose from continued deep-strike drone attacks on oil refineries which will severely affect Russia’s energy supply and exports. Many of the drones being used by Ukraine today are Cold War-era leftovers from the 1970s. Imagine what more damage they could do with a larger fleet of high-tech drones.
With the people of Odessa recovering this week from the latest onslaught, we may now be witnessing only the beginning of Ukraine’s full military response.