A Russian missile nearly struck Zelensky's convoy and the Greek PM in Odesa

Zelensky says Russian forces' don't care about military or civilian targets; Greek PM calls experience 'very intense'

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis appeared to be near a deadly Russian missile strike that struck the port city of Odesa, Ukraine. Mitsotakis called the bombardment "intense."

The Ukrainian navy reported that five people were killed and an unknown number of people were injured in the attack on port infrastructure on Wednesday.

"We heard sirens and explosions that happened close by," Mitsotakis stated while conversing with Zelensky. "We were unable to reach a shelter in time. Through an interpreter in Odesa, Mitsotakis continued, "It is a very intense experience."

Following the apparent death of a Russian election official on Wednesday due to a car bomb and a drone attack on a metal plant, Ukraine escalated its attacks beyond Russian borders.

As Moscow's forces move forward on the front lines and Kyiv struggles with a workforce and weapon shortage, both Russia and Ukraine have intensified their aerial attacks.

The Odesa strike occurred while the Greek delegation was visiting the port with Zelensky, according to spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk.

According to Zelensky, Russian troops "don't care whether [targets] are military or civilians; whoever they are, whether they are international guests, these people don't care."

An official from the White House in Washington stated, "It looks that [the rocket] landed near the convoy."

However, the attack was allegedly carried out on a "hangar in a commercial port area of Odesa in which crewless cutters were being prepared for combat use by the Ukrainian armed forces," according to the Russian Ministry of Defence.

Days earlier, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in weeks, a Russian drone struck a residential block in the same Black Sea city, killing 12 people, including five children.

The Odesa attack demonstrated the "urgent need" for weapons, according to a spokesman for President Joe Biden's national Security Council, even as the White House battles to overcome Republican resistance to fresh US aid packages to Ukraine.

They declared, "This strike is just one more illustration of how Russia is still attacking Ukraine carelessly every single day."

Authorities in the southern Ukrainian city of Berdiansk, which Russia occupies, accused Kyiv of being behind a car bombing that claimed the life of a local election official.

The Investigative Committee said in a statement that "a homemade explosive device was planted under the vehicle of a member of the precinct election commission."

The post continued, "The victim died from her injuries," and included a video showing a tiny, beige, entirely wrecked car parked on a dirt track.

The attack occurred as early voting for this month's Russian presidential election began throughout occupied Ukraine.

Yevgeny Balitsky, the Zaporizhzhia region's leader installed by Moscow, accused Ukrainian authorities of being behind the attack and claimed they were attempting to "intimidate" locals ahead of the election.

Several officials stationed in Russia have been singled out since Moscow began its extensive military campaign in Ukraine two years ago.

Additionally, Russia claimed that an early morning drone strike by Ukraine had damaged a fuel tank at a metals plant in the Kursk region of Russia.