site.btaOdesa under Missile Attack, Local Authorities Report

Two Russian ballistic missiles hit the Ukrainian city of Odesa on Tuesday, local authorities said in Telegram.

An explosion was heard in Odesa at 12:25 p.m. local time. Three minutes later, an air raid alert was sounded. The missiles were fired from the Crimean Peninsula occupied by Russia in 2014, authorities in Odesa said, urging residents of the city and the region to evacuate to bomb shelters.

Russian warplanes are flying over the Black Sea waters and repeated missile launches are possible, Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov warned in Telegram.

Odesa region is home to the third largest community of expatriate Bulgarians, numbering more than 150,000 people, according to the official 2001 census in Ukraine. Between 50,000 and 60,000 Bulgarians live in the regional capital, Odesa. Bulgarians in the region are concentrated in the districts of Bolhrad, Izmail, and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi.