Azerbaijani state news agency equates Russian shelling with genocide in report on Odesa

A film crew from the Azerbaijani state news agency AZERTAD made a report on the Russian shelling of Odesa, noting that the city has been under attack since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

The journalists noted that the current situation in Odesa shows that the number of destroyed and damaged civilian objects is very significant.

"As a result of the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine, thousands of civilians have been subjected to genocide. The main blow fell on the civilian population - the vast majority of the dead and wounded are civilians. From this point of view, the city of Odesa, located on the Black Sea coast and a favorite tourist destination, is also one of the settlements most affected by the war," the journalists emphasized.

In an interview with the publication, Odesa resident Tatiana Vovyanko said that the war has had a particularly severe impact on civilians.

"Every day - not only on the front line, but also in cities where there is no hostilities - missiles and drones fly in the sky. People cannot sleep well at night. Each of us is experiencing our own tragedy internally, constantly worrying about our loved ones. I think that those outside the country share this pain with us. Sometimes the worst thing is to survive in war," she said.

Viktor Yorzh, a resident of the city who miraculously survived the rocket attack on April 23, 2022, on the eve of Easter, told how the rocket fragments hit his house and destroyed apartments from the second floor to the seventh.

"Many apartments were damaged, seven people died. Of course, we want peace, but it is unrealistic for now," added Viktor Yorzh.

It should be noted that after the raid by Russian security forces in Yekaterinburg, which resulted in the deaths of several natives of Azerbaijan and dozens of detainees and severely beaten. The Azerbaijani authorities were outraged and canceled all cultural events in Azerbaijan planned by "Russian public and private institutions." In addition, in Azerbaijan, police searched the office of the Russian propaganda agency Sputnik Azerbaijan in Baku. Earlier, the Russian agency was banned in the country, but it continued to operate.

However, relations between Russia and Azerbaijan began to deteriorate after the downing of an airplane carrying Azerbaijani citizens over Russian territory. The country's leader Ilham Aliyev said that Russia should apologize and compensate the families of the victims for moral damages, but the Kremlin ignored Baku's demands.

Кирило Бойко