Odesa, Ukraine

Odesa, the Ukrainian city on the Black Sea officially opened several beaches for public on Saturday (August 12) for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion. However, bathing is banned during air raid alerts. Odesa is Ukraine's largest port and naval base. It has in past, come under repeated attacks from Russian missiles and drones. The sea was littered with hundreds of thousands of sea mines.

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For the safety of residents and after incidents of mines exploding on beaches, the coast was closed.

The city's civilian and military administrations took a joint decision to open beaches, according to Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper who wrote on Telegram app.

Kiper said the beaches would remain open from 8 am to 8 pm.

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Reuters quoted Oleksandr, a lifeguard and a former diver, who said that anti-mine net was placed in between two piers to prevent swimmers encountering shallow-water mines.

"The net will stop them. And they (mines) will also be visible from the shore under such weather conditions. Emergency workers will be notified, they will come to handle it," he said.

The opening of the beaches has been a welcome respite from the war for people swimming and sunbathing.

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"I have been dreaming of going to the beach and inhaling salty air. We have been missing it a lot. But safety is a top priority," said Svitlana, a resident of the Odesa region.

Russia claims downing 20 Ukrainian drones

Meanwhile, Russia said on Saturday that it had shot down 20 unmanned Ukrainian drones near the Crimean peninsula. The Russian defence ministry said on Telegram messaging service that 14 drones were downed by air defence systems and six more were shot down using electronic warfare.

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The ministry said that there were no casualties or damage.

Governor of Kaluga region, about 150 kilometres southwest of Moscow said that a drone was also intercepted in the region. 

On Friday officials in Moscow said that they had destroyed a drone that was targetting the Russian capital. The attack was latest in series of attacks on Moscow in recent days.

In July, Ukrainian drone strikes on Crimea blew up an ammunition depot and damaged the bridge across the Kerch Strait linking the peninsula to Russia's mainland.

Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014.

In Ukraine, Russian attacks on Saturday killed a policeman and injured 12 other people in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

A man was also killed in the Kharkiv region, according to local authorities.

(With inputs from agencies)

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