KYIV, Ukraine: Five individuals were injured in Odesa and one of the city’s principal art galleries was damaged in Russian strikes late on Sunday, as reported by Ukrainian officials in the Black Sea.
“On November 6, the Odesa National Art Museum turns 124 years old,” Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, of which the Odesa city is the administrative centre, said on the Telegram. He said that the eve of this significant occasion witnessed an unwelcome “congratulation” from the Russians in the form of a missile strike that impacted this architectural monument.
The walls of the building were damaged, and some windows and glass were broken, he said.
The museum housed before the war more than 10,000 pieces of art, including paintings by some of the best-known Russian and Ukrainian artists of the late 19th and early 20th century. The Odesa city council released a video showing blown-out windows and debris inside what it said was the Odesa National Art Museum, where paintings once adorned the walls.
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“The situation is under control, but everything will have to be examined thoroughly so that we are sure that everything is fine,” Odesa Mayor Henadii Trukhanov told the media outlet.
On the street near the museum, the attack left a several-meter hole, causing one person to sustain injuries, according to city authorities.
Kiper further said that all five of the injured, from throughout the city, were hospitalised.
