The first Russian airstrikes against Odesa occurred on the first day of the invasion, early on 24 February 2022, targeting warehouses in the city as well as radar and air defense systems in Lipetske.

[9] At around 12:00 local time on 2 March 2022, Russian forces shelled the village of Dachne to the north-west of Odesa, damaging a natural gas pipeline and setting fire to nine houses and a garage.

During the morning of 21 March 2022, Russian warships reappeared offshore and began shelling targets in Odesa including the port, before Ukrainian coastal artillery returned fire and drove them back out into the Black Sea.

[20][21] The Russian Ministry of Defence said that a fire had caused munitions to explode, and that the ship had been seriously damaged and the crew fully evacuated, without any reference to a Ukrainian strike.

[25] Russia confirmed the attack stating the facility targeted was a logistic terminal at a military airfield that housed US and European weapons given to Ukraine.

[26] On 27 April 2022, Russian forces attacked Zatoka Bridge with the aim of disconnecting the city of Odesa with the rest of the country at the east of Dniester river.

[30] On 7 May, a Ukrainian Naval Aviation Mil Mi-14, piloted by Col. Igor Bedzai was shot down near Odesa by a Russian jetfighter after a mission on Snake Island, five servicemen were lost.

At that time, President of the European Council Charles Michel and Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal were in Odesa and had to hide in a bomb shelter.

[34][35] On 23 July 2022, less than a day after signing a grain export deal with Ukraine, Russia launched Kalibr missiles at the Odesa sea trade port.

[37] The next day, Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defence, confirmed the strike, claiming that it destroyed a Ukrainian warship and a warehouse of Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

[38] In the night on 19 July 2023, Russia carried out further missile and drone attacks on the Port of Odesa after withdrawing from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The missile exploded in several hundreds meters from President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who visited Odesa this day.

[63] On 6 October, the Saint Kitts and Nevis-flagged cargo vessel Paresa, carrying 6,000 tons of corn, was damaged in a Russian air attack on Pivdennyi Port in Yuzhne in Odesa Oblast.

[64] Another foreign-flagged vessel, flagged for Palau, was damaged in an attack on Odesa on 7 October, killing a Ukrainian port employee and injuring five foreign nationals.

[65] Two days later, the Panama-flagged civilian container vessel Shui Spirit was damaged in a ballistic missile strike on Odesa, killing eight people and injuring nine others.

The attack killed two Ukrenergo employees in Odesa, injured one other person, and knocked out power, water, and heating to the city, while causing disruptions in utilities throughout the rest of the oblast.

[80] Amnesty International also condemned Russian attacks on Odesa: "...Russia’s threat to treat all ships travelling to Ukrainian ports through the Black Sea as carriers of military equipment reveals its readiness to strip those most in need of critical food supplies for its own military aims and sends a clear message that Russian forces are prepared to commit new war crimes.

By stepping up its war of aggression in this manner, Russia is holding some of the world’s lowest income countries hostage to its military and political agenda.