Russia hit a Ukrainian port city using one of its more brutal tactics, a double-tap missile strike that kills emergency workers too

• Russia hit the Ukrainian port city of Odesa in a double-tap strike on Friday.
• The attack involves drawing crowds to the site of an initial blast and then hitting the spot again.

Russia launched multiple missiles at the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Friday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, including emergency responders who were looking for survivors.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said after an initial strike hit the city, its rescue workers quickly arrived at the site to search for wounded civilians, sort through the debris, and extinguish fires. While they were responding, Russia fired a second missile at their location.

At least 14 people were killed in the attack, including a paramedic and a rescue worker, Odesa Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said. Another 46 individuals were left injured, including seven emergency workers.

Civilian infrastructure, including private homes, were also left damaged by the attack, which Russia carried out using Iskander ballistic missiles fired from the occupied Crimean peninsula, according to Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces.

This type of missile bombardment is known as a double-tap strike, a brutal tactic that's designed to inflict maximum casualties by drawing out bystanders and rescue workers with an initial explosion, only to then target that same site in a follow-up attack.

Russia has carried out double-tap strikes in other Ukrainian cities throughout the war, but this deadly strategy is not necessarily new to Moscow's playbook, as it has been accused of conducting such attacks in Syria, killing civilians and rescue workers.

"It is absolutely ruthless to hit the same location twice in the space of minutes, causing the death and injury of people who had quickly come to help the survivors," a United Nations official said after a Russian double-tap strike in August 2023, calling it a "serious breach of international humanitarian law" that "violates any principle of humanity."

The attack is the latest on the strategic port city of Odesa. In early March, Russian drones killed a dozen people, and just a few days later, a missile hit the city while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was there during a visit with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

It also comes amid uncertainty over the future of Western military support for Ukraine, with Zelenskyy this week calling for more air-defense capabilities from Kyiv's partner nations, and growing concern over the possibility of a war between Russia and NATO.

"This cruel attack underscores that Russia will not stop its brazen aggression in Europe," US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said on Friday. "We need to help Ukraine stop Russia now. There is not a moment to lose."