Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Portal
Zelensky said the rocket hit near where he met with Mitsotakis, third from the right.
CNN –
A Russian missile that killed five people in the Black Sea port city of Odessa on Wednesday landed just 500 meters from a convoy carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a source said.
The source said the two leaders' convoy felt the effects of the attack and the group saw a “mushroom cloud” of smoke.
Five people were killed and others injured in the attack, a Ukrainian navy spokesman, Dmytro Pletenchuk, told CNN.
Neither leader was injured, but Zelensky said he was close enough to see and hear the attack.
“We saw this strike today. They see who we're dealing with, they don't care where they strike. “I know that there were victims today, I don’t know all the details yet, but I know that there are dead and injured,” Zelensky said from Odessa on Wednesday.
“We have to defend ourselves first and foremost. The best way to achieve this is with an air defense system,” he added.
Mitsotakis said Zelensky led him through the city, which had suffered enormous damage from months of Russian attacks, before they heard air raid sirens.
“Soon after, as we were getting into our cars, we heard a big explosion,” Mitsotakis told reporters later on Wednesday. “I think this is the best and most vivid reminder for us that there is a real war going on here. Every day there is a war that affects not only the front and the soldiers, but also our innocent fellow citizens.
Zelensky often makes risky trips to the front lines and has welcomed dozens of world leaders to Ukraine during more than two years of war with Russia, but Wednesday's attack could represent one of the president's closest challenges.
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Located at the mouth of the Danube, Odessa is crucial to Ukraine's grain exports, which Russia has repeatedly tried to curb since its invasion began. It is also the main base of the Ukrainian Navy.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its military carried out the attack at 11:40 a.m. Moscow time (3:40 a.m. ET).
“The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched a high-precision missile attack on a hangar in the industrial port district of Odessa, where preparations were underway for the combat use of unmanned boats of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The aim of the strike was achieved. “The object was hit,” it said in a statement, without mentioning Zelensky or Mitsotakis.
Russia has stepped up its attacks on the region in recent days and on Saturday a Russian drone strike on an apartment block in the city killed 12 people, including five children, Ukrainian officials said.
Zelensky said the attack highlighted the need to further strengthen the country's air defense.
He has often argued that Western leaders need to visit Ukraine to understand the reality of Russia's ongoing aggression.
After Wednesday's strike, Zelensky said he welcomed Mitsotakis to “honor the memory” of the victims of Sunday's attack and called on his allies to provide more support.
“The world has enough air defense systems and the ability to produce weapons for defense,” he said in his daily address. “Weapons are needed here to save lives. Solutions are needed now – not one day, but for the people who endure terrorist attacks day and night.”
In Washington, where President Joe Biden's $60 billion aid request for Ukraine has stalled, the White House said the attack was another sign that the war-torn country needed more military aid and used it to to urge House Speaker Mike Johnson to vote on the package.
“This attack is another reminder of how Russia continues to recklessly attack Ukraine day after day and of Ukraine's urgent needs, particularly for air defense interceptors,” a National Security Council spokesman said. “We again call on the House of Representatives to take action to support Ukraine so that we can provide Ukrainian armed forces with the equipment they urgently need to defend themselves against these egregious Russian attacks.”
European Council President Charles Michel condemned the attack as “another sign of Russia's cowardly tactics” and said it was “even under the direction of the Kremlin.”
In May 2022, Michel visited Odessa when Russia fired ten cruise missiles into the region.