A Russian ballistic missile strike struck the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa overnight, resulting in the deaths of four individuals and damage to a Barbados-flagged cargo ship, according to Ukrainian officials.
“Regrettably, four individuals lost their lives – they were citizens of Syria. At the time of the strike, the ship was loading wheat destined for export to Algeria. It was a fully civilian vessel,” Oleksiy Kuleba, vice prime minister for reconstruction, stated on social media.
In another incident, a missile attack in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih claimed the life of a 47-year-old woman and left at least five others injured, as reported by Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak.
The attack also targeted an infrastructure facility, causing a fire, he added in a statement via the Telegram messaging platform.
Local official Oleksandr Vilkul noted that civilian infrastructures, businesses, and apartment buildings were damaged, and assured that city services were working to provide repair materials to residents of Kryvyi Rih.
During the night, Russia executed an air attack on Kyiv, with air defense forces actively engaged in thwarting the strikes, reported Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital.
In the meantime, Russia announced it was achieving significant progress in the Kursk region, reasserting control over five villages that were previously occupied by Ukrainian forces.
Additionally, Russian troops have entered the town of Sudzha, the largest location that had been under Ukrainian control, and are reportedly conducting “assault operations” there, according to the state news agency TASS.
People stroll along a street past a damaged building in Kramatorsk, Donetsk, Ukraine
“Our military’s information indicates that our forces are making successful advances in the Kursk region, freeing areas that were under militant control. The dynamics are promising,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Ukraine initiated a surprise offensive in the Kursk region last August, but has gradually lost ground as Russia dispatched thousands of reinforcements, including soldiers from North Korea.
Over the past week, Ukraine has given up control of numerous square kilometers of territory, as noted by military bloggers.
Video footage shared by Russian news outlets allegedly showed Russian troops waving flags in the center of Sudzha, a location seized by Ukraine shortly after the offensive commenced.
Read more: US to resume military aid to Ukraine following talks. European ministers to discuss Ukraine peacekeeping force.
Kursk represents one of Ukraine’s few negotiating points for land swaps with Russia, which has occupied approximately one-fifth of Ukraine since its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the initiation of its full-scale assault in February 2022.
The recent attacks in Ukraine and the reclamation of territory in Kursk followed Ukraine’s endorsement of an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and its agreement to engage in immediate negotiations with Russia, following talks in Saudi Arabia.
The administration of President Donald Trump also consented to lift a freeze on military assistance to Ukraine and anticipated the dawn of an end to the conflict.
In the hours subsequent to the talks, the Ukrainian military reported that Russia launched three missiles and 133 drones in an overnight attack.
The air force managed to shoot down 98 of those drones.
Ukraine executed its largest drone attack on Moscow yesterday.
Another 20 drones failed to reach their objectives, likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures, according to reports.
The fate of the remaining 15 drones remains unspecified.
Concurrently, the Russian defense ministry reported that its air defense units intercepted and destroyed 21 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Twelve of these drones were downed over the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, while the rest were engaged over the territories of Kursk and Kaluga regions, as well as the Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea.
These overnight attacks followed previous Russian strikes that resulted in the deaths of six individuals, including two children, in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, as reported by the regional governor.
Odesa was also targeted yesterday, with reports indicating a Russian attack igniting a fire at a fuel storage facility, a private residence, and a storage site for children’s toys.
The assaults by Russia transpired as Ukraine carried out its largest drone attack on Moscow and its surroundings the previous day, resulting in the deaths of at least three employees at a meat warehouse, injuring 17 others, and causing a brief shutdown of four airports in the Russian capital, according to officials.
