By ILLIA NOVIKOV, Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones pummeled the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa, injuring three people and sparking massive fires, officials said Friday, an attack that underlined Moscow’s intention to pursue aerial strikes even as it agreed to temporarily halt strikes on energy facilities.
The head of the Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, said the city suffered “local emergency power outages” in three of its districts, an indication that the energy infrastructure of the city could have been damaged.
Reacting to the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “joint pressure on Russia, strengthening sanctions and defense support for our state … is the way to stop such terror and Russia’s prolongation of the war.”
“We expect real pressure on Russia from the US, Europe and all our partners,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram “And this is what will allow diplomacy to work.”
Russia, meanwhile, accused Ukraine of blowing up a gas facility in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have launched an incursion, in violation of the ceasefire deal. Ukraine denies the accusations.
Russian drone attack sparks massive blazes in Odesa
The strike came shortly before Czech Republic President Petr Pavel visited Odesa early Friday morning and held meetings with the city’s leaders and officials from other southern regions.
“This is another reminder to the whole world: the war continues and Ukraine continues to fight,” Kiper said in a statement.
He reported blazes at at least three locations after the attack late Thursday. “Civilian infrastructure, commercial facilities are on fire, cars damaged,” Kiper said.
Over 70 people and 20 fire engines were involved in extinguishing what the emergency services called “massive fires.”
Russia accuses Ukraine of blowing up natural gas facility in the Kursk region
Russia’s Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of blowing up a gas metering station near the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region, in what it described as a “deliberate provocation by the Kyiv regime, which is part of a series of recent strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure in order to discredit the U.S. president’s peaceful initiatives.”
Ukraine’s military General Staff rejected Moscow’s accusations and blamed the Russian military for shelling the Sudzha gas metering station as part of Russia’s “discrediting campaign.”
The gas metering station serves a major pipeline that had pumped Russia’s natural gas to Europe until supplies were halted last year.
Views differ on what is covered by the truce
Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders this week, though it remained to be seen what possible targets would be off limits to attack.
The three sides appeared to hold starkly different views about what the deal covered. While the White House said “energy and infrastructure” would be covered, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to “energy infrastructure.” Zelenskyy said he would also like railways and ports to be protected.
Zelenskyy told reporters after Wednesday’s call with Trump that “technical” talks in Saudi Arabia this weekend would seek to resolve what types of infrastructure would be protected from attack under the agreement.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized Friday that the agreement reached between Trump and Putin referred only to energy facilities, adding that the Russian military is fulfilling Putin’s order to halt such attacks for 30 days.
“The Russian military are currently refraining from strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in accordance with the agreement reached between Russia and the United States,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
Other attacks reported by both sides
In another attack, Russian glide bombs injured at least six people, including a child, in the Zaporizhzhia region overnight Thursday to Friday. Regional head Ivan Fedorov published photos showing fire fighters extinguishing flames at multiple damaged residential buildings.
The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired 214 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks. It said 114 of them were intercepted and another 81 were jammed.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 43 Ukrainian drones, 34 of them over the Volgograd region and others over Rostov, Kursk and Belgorod regions. The authorities didn’t report any casualties or significant damage.
Meanwhile, a massive blaze at an oil depot in the Krasnodar region has continued to rage since it was hit by a Ukrainian drone attack late Wednesday.