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Forsyth published more than 25 books, also including The Odessa File and The Dogs of War, and sold 75 million books around the world, he said.

The city's Mayor Gennady Trukhanov said: "The enemy has launched another massive attack on the city. Residential buildings and civilian infrastructure have been damaged in various areas of Odessa."

Meanwhile, fighting continued overnight with reports of drone strikes in the port city of Odessa.

One teacher in Odessa in Ukraine told the BBC her dancers have tried to keep practicing even when one school was bombed and others have no electricity because of blackouts.

Odessa’s most famous landmark, the Potemkin Stairs — best known for the harrowing tumbling-baby-carriage scene in the 1925 film “Battleship Potemkin” — are topped with a roll of barbed wire.