Russia Ukraine war live: At least four killed and dozens injured after Russian missile hits school in Odesa

At least four people were killed after a Russian missile attack struck an educational institution in a popular seafront park in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa.

One man also suffered a stroke attributed to the missile attack, regional governor Oleh Kiper said. The injured include a child and a pregnant woman.

Seven of the injured were in serious condition, including a four-year-old child, the official said.

The missile attack was carried out using Iskander-M ballistic missile with a cluster warhead, a missile known as harder to intercept, said Ukrainian navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk.

Public broadcaster Suspilne said the academy’s president, a prominent former member of parliament, Serhiy Kivalov, was among the injured.

“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.”

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 actively.

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.”

Debris from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile was found in Ukraine’s Kharkiv when it came under attack on 2 January this year, according to the United Nations sanctions monitors.

The UN sanctions members informed a Security Council committee in a 32-page report seen by Reuters, concluding that “debris recovered from a missile that landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine on 2 January 2024 derives from a DPRK Hwasong-11 series missiles.”

Missile’s use in Ukraine is in violation of the arms embargo on North Korea, the report added.

“Information on the trajectory provided by Ukrainian authorities indicates it was launched within the territory of the Russian Federation,” officials wrote in a 25 April report to the Security Council’s North Korea sanctions committee.

Three sanctions monitors travelled to Ukraine earlier in April to inspect the debris and found no evidence that the missile was made by Russia. They “could not independently identify from where the missile was launched, nor by whom.”

“Such a location, if the missile was under control of Russian forces, would probably indicate procurement by nationals of the Russian Federation,” they said, adding that this would be a violation of the arms embargo imposed on North Korea in 2006.

Ukraine’s foreign minister doubled down Friday on the government’s move to bolster the pool of fighting forces by cutting off consular services to conscription-age men outside the country, saying it was a question of “justice.”

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the policy would ensure men in Ukraine and those who have left were both treated fairly.

Several German parties on Saturday kicked off their campaigns for the election of the European Parliament in June with a focus on issues such as the war in Ukraine and support by many European voters for far-right nationalist parties across the continent.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ’s center-left Social Democrats, or SPD, launched their official campaign for the June 9 EU election with a rally in Hamburg, Scholz’s longtime home city.

Below you can see more footage of the aftermath of a Russian strike on the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa.

A Mexican film has won the top prize Friday at the Moscow International Film Festival, which took place as major Western studios boycott the Russian market and as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds into its third year.

“Shame,” a film by director Miguel Salgado and co-produced by Mexico and Qatar, was the most highly awarded film at the festival, which began in 1935 and which has been held annually since 1999. This year’s edition included more than 240 films from 56 countries.

Two Russian journalists were arrested by their government on “extremism” charges and ordered by courts there on Saturday to remain in custody pending investigation and trial on accusations of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin both denied the charges for which they will be detained for a minimum of two months before any trials begin. Each faces a minimum of two years in prison and a maximum of six years for alleged “participation in an extremist organization,” according to Russian courts.

A Russian court has placed a journalist from the local edition of US magazine Forbes under house arrest.

Sergei Mingazov was detained earlier on Friday on suspicion of spreading false information about the Russian army, according to the magazine.

Vladimir Torkonyak, an official from the Khabarovsk Regional Court said that the 55-year-old journalist was placed under house arrest for spreading “fake news about the Russian army” through a two-year-old post on a Telegram channel, reported Russia’s state-owned RIA news agency.