Russian drone attack damages 124-year-old art gallery in Odesa

Attack injures at least five people and sets trucks with grain on fire

A 124-year-old art museum was damaged as Russia launched a barrage of drone attacks in Ukraine's port city of Odesa, injuring at least five people and setting trucks with grain on fire.

"On November 6, the Odesa National Art Museum turns 124 years old," said Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region.

"On the eve of November 6, the Russians 'congratulated' our architectural monument with a missile that hit nearby," he added.

The walls of the building were damaged while some windows and glass were broken, according to the governor.

The drones reportedly damaged port infrastructure, including warehouses and loading equipment, before Ukraine downed 15 Russian drones over the city, the authorities said.

The Odesa National Art Museum is one of the oldest palaces of Odesa, which housed more than 10,000 pieces of art before the war, including paintings by some of the best-known Russian and Ukrainian artists of the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Odesa city council published a video showing blown-out windows and debris inside what it said was the art museum. On the street near the museum, the attack left a several-metre-deep hole. According to the city authorities, one person was injured there.

The governor said that all five of the injured, from around the city, were hospitalised. Explosions were also reported in the Kherson region, located 143 km east of Odesa.

Last week Russia unleashed a wave of nighttime drones and missiles to attack 10 of Ukraine's 24 regions as tensions soar between Moscow and the West over Vladimir Putin's 20-month-long war in Ukraine.

Kyiv’s air force said it intercepted 24 of 38 Shahed drones and one Kh-59 cruise missile launched by Russia. The attacks caused fires in homes and public buildings, especially in Kherson region which Moscow has increasingly targeted in recent weeks, emergency services said.