Russian drone attacks struck Ukraine’s main Black Sea port in Odesa and a railway sorting yard in Zaporizhia overnight, Ukrainian officials said. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said the Odesa assault damaged port infrastructure including berths, warehouses, rail lines and facilities used by port operators, calling the strike further evidence of Russia targeting civilians and workers keeping the country moving.
The Zaporizhia incident occurred at the Zaporizhia-Live station sorting yard, where an assistant train driver was killed and the main driver sustained injuries and is being treated in hospital.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko warned the same night that Russian forces launched drones and missiles along flight paths close to the disused Chornobyl nuclear site and the Khmelnytskyi power plant, increasing the danger of a serious incident ahead of the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster. Kravchenko said air-defence systems detected 35 Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles at various distances within roughly 20 km of the Chornobyl facility or the Khmelnytskyi plant, and that 18 of those passed within about 20 km of both sites on the same flight. He said such launches could not be justified by military necessity and appeared intended to intimidate and terrorize.
Kravchenko suggested Russian forces may be using the Chornobyl area as a corridor to route drones around areas where Ukraine concentrates limited air-defence assets. Ukraine focuses its defences on populated areas and key infrastructure to maximize protection.
Ukraine’s military reported shooting down 189 of 215 incoming Russian drones overnight. It said 24 drones struck 13 locations and debris fell at six sites, while several drones remained aloft. The Russian Ministry of Defence, citing local reports, claimed it shot down 155 Ukrainian drones overnight.
In a separate incident, a Ukrainian drone strike on the central Russian city of Syzran killed two people, regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorischev said — an adult woman and a child. Russian emergency services released photos showing a partially collapsed four-storey apartment block and rescue teams working in the rubble.
Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have made little progress. Recent US-brokered talks have not brought the sides closer to an agreement to stop fighting that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The diplomatic process has slowed further since the outbreak of war in the Middle East, which shifted US attention toward Iran, and was previously hampered by disputes over territory.
Kyiv has proposed freezing front lines where they stand today; Moscow rejects that and continues to demand control of the entire Donetsk region, including areas still held by Ukraine — a demand Kyiv says is unacceptable. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv has asked Turkey to host talks between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Vladimir Putin and would consider any venue other than Belarus or Russia. Sybiha did not say how Ankara replied. The Kremlin said it would be willing to host Zelenskyy in Moscow; Zelenskyy has said he will not travel there.