Three killed in Russian missile strike in port city of Ukraine's Odesa

KIEV: Three people were killed and thirteen others sustained injuries in a Russian missile attack on Odesa, a Black Sea port in Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported citing Ukraine's military. Russia fired four cruise missiles towards the city, according to the southern military command of Ukraine.

Two missiles were reportedly destroyed by the military before they could reach their objectives, reported Al Jazeera. "As a result of air combat and blast waves, a business centre, an educational institution, a residential complex, food establishments and shops in the city centre were damaged," the southern command of the Ukrainian military said, according to Al Jazeera.

"Sifting through the debris continues. There may be people under," he added. Earlier on June 8, Russian soldiers shelled Kherson in "targeted strikes" during flood evacuation operations, leaving at least one person dead and 8 others injured.

"The shelling began precisely during the evacuation of citizens whose homes were flooded," the Interior Ministry of Ukraine stated in a statement, according to Al Jazeera. "And it continues to prevent Ukraine from saving the most valuable - human lives," it added.

Evacuation efforts are underway in Kherson after the Nova Kakhovka dam, the largest reservoir in Ukraine in terms of volume collapsed after an explosion this week. Kherson is located on the Dnipro River, approximately 60 kms (37 miles) downstream of the Kakhovka dam. Russia has already accused Ukrainian forces of shelling rescue personnel in Russian-occupied areas of the Kherson region. More than 1,500 people have been evacuated from flooded areas of the Kherson region in Ukraine after the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam, CNN reported.

There are worries about an ecological disaster following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power plant on Tuesday in Ukraine. Residents downstream from the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River in Kherson were told to "do everything you can to save your life", according to the head of Ukraine's Kherson region military administration.

The critical Nova Kakhovka dam is the largest reservoir in Ukraine in terms of volume. It's the last of the cascade of six Soviet-era dams on the Dnipro River, a major waterway running through southeastern Ukraine. There are multiple towns and cities downstream, including Kherson, a city of some 300,000 people, before Moscow's invasion of its neighbour, CNN reported.