FIVE people were killed and more than 30 people injured in a Russian cluster munition attack on a private law academy in Ukraine.
Shocking video showed explosions and plumes of smoke in the port of Odesa, followed by raging flames at the city’s “Harry Potter Castle”.
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The Russian missile attack on the popular seafront park killed at least five people and injured at least 32, including two children and a pregnant woman.
In addition to those killed in the Monday blitz, one man reportedly died after suffering a stroke attributed to the strike.
Regional governor Oleh Kiper said a four-year-old child and seven other injured people were in a serious condition.
A dog was also killed by shrapnel.
Footage shared to Telegram by Ukraine’s prosecutor general Andriy Kostin showed the city’s seafront being peppered with explosions.
One of the missiles struck a university founded in 1997, Odesa Law Academy, known locally the “Harry Potter Castle”.
Huge and bright orange-red flames engulfed the historic building as firefighters tried desperately to extinguish the blaze.
The roof of the ornate building was all but destroyed.
Mr Kostin said on Tuesday: “Russia cynically disregards all norms of international humanitarian law. Last night, the enemy sneakily attacked Odesa.
“Five people died, more than 30 were injured. Among the injured are two children and a pregnant woman.
“Five wounded are in extremely serious condition.”
He claimed the strike was carried out by an Iskander ballistic missile with a cluster warhead, an “indiscriminate weapon” that can lead to “significant” civilian casualties.
The Prosecutor General continued: “In a radius of 1.5 km from the site of the shelling, metal fragments and debris of the rocket were recovered.
“The investigation has reason to believe that the decision to use such a weapon was made by the officers of the Soviet Union deliberately in order to kill as many peaceful Ukrainians as possible.
“The investigation is ongoing. We will find and punish those who issue criminal orders to shell peaceful Ukrainian cities.”
Prominent former MP Serhiy Kivalov is said to have owned the private law academy and called the “Harry Potter Castle” home.
He was reportedly among those injured in the strike.
Other video footage and photographs from the scene appeared to show people receiving treatment on the street beside pools of blood as officials examined part of a missile.
What are cluster bombs?
A CLUSTER bomb is a weapon containing multiple explosive submunitions.
The munition releases or ejects smaller submunitions when it is dropped from the air or launched from the ground.
It is designed to inflict casualties on personnel, and poses the greatest threat to civilians – rather than to equipment or soldiers.
Such bombs are dangerous to civilians both during attacks and afterwards as they release many small bomblets over a wide area.
Bomblets that do not explode immediately can kill or maim civilians long after the battle has ended and are costly to move.
Hundreds of attacks by Russian forces with cluster munitions have been recorded since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine have signed the 2008 convention which limits the use of cluster munitions.
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