By Asaye Bankole
A Russian ballistic missile strike on port facilities in Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa has killed at least eight people and injured 27, as Moscow steps up attacks on the strategic Black Sea region while negotiations to end the war remain at a critical point.
The late Friday strike targeted key logistics infrastructure. Some of the injured were trapped inside a bus at the centre of the blast, while trucks in a nearby car park were set ablaze.
Ukrainian officials say the bombardment is part of a prolonged Russian campaign against Odesa’s civilian infrastructure, leaving more than two million people without electricity, water, or heating for days during freezing temperatures in the war’s fourth harsh winter.
The same port was struck again on Saturday, with reservoirs hit in what Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said was a deliberate attack on civilian logistics routes.
The escalation comes as both sides continue fighting on multiple fronts, while US-led talks and a series of high-level meetings in Europe aimed at ending the war drag on without a breakthrough.
Russia said on Saturday that its forces had captured the villages of Svitle in the eastern Donetsk region and Vysoke in the northeastern Sumy region, although the claims could not be independently verified.
Ukraine has responded by expanding its campaign against Russian military and energy targets.
On Friday night, Ukrainian drones hit the Filanovsky oil platform operated by Russian energy giant Lukoil in the Caspian Sea, as well as a military patrol vessel operating near the installation.
Ukraine received a major boost on Friday after European leaders agreed to provide a €90 billion ($105 billion) loan to support the country’s military and economic needs over the next two years.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who met Polish President Karol Nawrocki in Warsaw the same day to strengthen regional unity against Russia, said the funds would be used for defence if the war continues, or for reconstruction if peace is secured.
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