Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s main Black Sea port in Odesa and a railway in the Zaporizhia region overnight, killing an assistant train driver, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said.
Kuleba said the strikes damaged Odesa port infrastructure, including berths, warehouses, railway infrastructure and port operators’ facilities. He described the attack as “another proof of terrorism, Russia is at war against peaceful people, against those who were simply doing their job and keeping the country moving”.
The strike on a sorting yard at the Zaporizhia-Live station killed the assistant train driver; the main driver was injured and is receiving hospital treatment.
Ukraine’s top state prosecutor said Russia also launched drones and missiles along a flight path near the disused Chornobyl nuclear plant, raising the risk of a significant accident ahead of the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said 35 Kinzhals — Russian air-launched ballistic missiles — were detected at various distances within about 20km (12 miles) of the Chornobyl facility or the Khmelnytskyi plant. Eighteen passed within about 20km of both sites on the same flight, he added, saying such launches “cannot be explained by any military considerations” and are meant for “intimidation and terror”.
Kravchenko said the Russian military was likely using the Chornobyl area as an attack route for drones to try to bypass dense areas of Ukrainian air-defence coverage. Ukraine concentrates its limited air-defence systems near populated areas and key infrastructure to maximise their effectiveness.
Ukraine’s army reported it shot down 189 out of 215 Russian drones overnight. It said 24 drones were recorded hitting 13 locations, with falling debris at six locations, while many drones remained airborne. The Russian Ministry of Defence, citing local media, said it destroyed 155 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Also overnight, a Ukrainian drone strike on the central Russian city of Syzran killed two people, the Samara region governor Vyacheslav Fedorischev said — an adult woman and a child. Photos released by Russian emergency services showed a four-storey apartment building partly collapsed and rescuers working amid the debris.
Failed diplomacy
Recent United States-brokered negotiations have failed to bring the parties closer to an agreement to end the fighting that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The diplomatic process has stalled further since the outbreak of war in the Middle East, with US attention shifting towards Iran. Even before that, progress was slow because of disagreements over territory.
Ukraine has proposed freezing the conflict along current front lines. Russia has rejected this demand, insisting on control of the whole Donetsk region, including parts still held by Ukraine — a position Kyiv says is unacceptable.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, in remarks cleared for release, said Kyiv has asked Turkiye to host a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said Ukraine would consider any venue other than Belarus or Russia. Belarus is a close Russian ally and allowed Moscow to use its territory during the 2022 invasion. Sybiha did not say how Ankara had responded. The Kremlin has said it would be willing to host Zelenskyy in Moscow; Zelenskyy has said he will not go.