Russian Missile and Drone Barrage Sets Two Odesa Epicentr Hypermarkets Ablaze

Russia launched a nationwide overnight barrage into August 24 that Ukraine's Air Force said included 2 Oniks anti-ship missiles, 6 Kh-31P/Kh-59 air-launched missiles, 143 Shahed-type drones, plus Gerbera decoy UAVs and S8000 Banderol munitions. In Odesa, missiles and drones set two 'Epicentr' home-improvement superstores ablaze — one in the Kotovskyi area of Peresypskyi district, another in the '7th Kilometre' area of Khadzhybeiskyi district — and hit food storage facilities, energy infrastructure, and warehouses, according to regional military administration head Oleh Kiper. Five people were injured in strikes on warehouse facilities, three of them hospitalized. Russia's Defense Ministry separately claimed its forces struck the Yuzhne port in Odesa Oblast, hitting a fuel tanker and fuel storage tanks it said were destined for the Ukrainian military.