The Ukrainian port city of Odesa came under renewed Russian missile attack early Sunday, just hours before President Vladimir Putin was due to hold a summit with his staunch Belarus ally Alexander Lukashenko. At the meeting in Saint Petersburg, the pair plan to discuss the “strategic partnership and alliance” between their countries, according to the Kremlin. It will be the first time they have met since Lukashenko helped end a dramatic mutiny by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group. Hours before their meeting, Russian strikes targeted Odesa, which has been bombed several times since the start of the invasion. “Unfortunately, we have one civilian killed as a result of the nighttime terrorist attack by Russians on Odesa,” regional governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram. Earlier he had reported “18 victims, including four children”, in a Russian attack at 3:00 am (0000 GMT). “Fourteen people were hospitalised in the city’s hospitals, three of them were children,” he said. Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command said Odesa was targeted with at least five types of missile, including Kalibr cruise missiles. “Air defence forces destroyed a significant amount of the missiles,” it said. “The rest caused damage to port infrastructure,” and several buildings, it said, adding that a missile had hit the Orthodox cathedral in the city centre. The Orthodox Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa was damaged, according to a video posted by city hall on its Telegram channel. Nineteen people were wounded in the overnight attack, including four children, the army reported. The strategic port has come under repeated attack since Moscow pulled out of a grain export deal last week. Ukraine vows retaliation to deadly Odesa strikes: Russia’s latest missile attack on Odesa left two dead Sunday, wounded many and badly damaged a UNESCO-listed Orthodox cathedral, drawing a vow of retaliation from Ukraine’s leader. The strike on the port city, which Russia has pounded since quitting the Black Sea grain deal, came just hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Belarus counterpart for talks. Ukrainian leader Volodmyr Zelensky promised to strike back at Russia for the deadly attack, which involved 19 missiles and also wounded 22 people “Missiles against peaceful cities, against residential buildings, a cathedral,” Zelensky said. “There will definitely be a retaliation against Russian terrorists for Odesa.” Kyiv also said the Orthodox Savior and Transfiguration Cathedral under UNESCO protection in the historic city centre was destroyed, calling it a “war crime that will never be forgotten and forgiven.” Andriy Palchuk, archdeacon of the cathedral, told AFP that both people in the cathedral at the time of the attack survived. Moscow said it had hit all its intended targets in the Odesa strike, claiming the sites were being used to prepare “terrorist acts” against Russia. Odesa has been bombed several times since the start of the invasion, and in January the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO designated the historic centre of the city as a World Heritage in Danger site. Attacks have increased since Russia said it was pulling out of a key deal which allowed the safe export of Ukrainian grain — effectively ending the agreement signed in July last year between Moscow, Kyiv, Istanbul and the UN. Russian authorities then announced that they would consider any ships heading for Ukrainian grain ports on the Black Sea as military targets. Kyiv has accused Russia of targeting grain supplies and infrastructure vital to any resumption of Ukrainian grain exports. On Sunday, Putin met with President Alexander Lukashenko for the first time since the Belarus leader helped broker a deal to end a mutiny by Wagner fighters inside Russia last month. Moscow also blamed the West and Kyiv for the death of a Russian war correspondent in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, saying he was killed by cluster munitions and promising a “response” against those responsible.