By Edna-UCLIQ
Russian missiles struck a civilian container ship in Ukraine’s Odesa region, killing eight people, local officials said.
“This is the third attack on a civilian vessel in the past four days,” said Oleh Kiper, the region’s governor. He condemned the strike as “yet another crime” committed by an “insidious enemy.”
Kiper added that the attack targeted the port facility infrastructure and that all of the victims were Ukrainians. The dead included a 46-year-old employee with the port facility, who later died of his wounds in the hospital, and a 26-year-old man who was injured in the strike and later succumbed to those injuries in the hospital. Others sustained injuries from the attack.
The missile strikes come as President Volodymyr Zelensky embarks on a tour of Europe. He is holding talks in London, Paris, and Rome.
On Downing Street, Zelensky met with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and NATO’s new secretary general, Mark Rutte. Rutte said: “Ukraine may face its toughest winter since the start of the invasion in 2022.”
Zelensky was originally scheduled to meet U.S. President Joe Biden and other Western allies on Saturday in Berlin.
However, Biden canceled his trip due to Hurricane Milton threatening the U.S.
“This is a blow for Ukraine,” said one, as growing concern mounts that continued support from key allies is in doubt with less than a month to go before U.S. elections.
Zelensky, however, seemed to take it rather less seriously. “Any leader in similar circumstances would have stayed in their country,” he told reporters during a visit to Croatia.
He remained optimistic that a “new schedule” for the meeting of the leaders would be agreed on shortly.
Zelensky is to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday en route to Germany.
Russia’s overnight strikes also hit the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, wounding several people.
Twenty-nine homes were destroyed, regional officials said with a giant crater covered in debris.
