Russian drones struck apartment buildings and energy infrastructure in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa overnight, injuring six people, including a toddler and two other children, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.
Regional military administration head Oleh Kiper said four apartment buildings were damaged in the bombardment. Ukraine’s largest private power company, DTEK, said two of its energy facilities sustained significant damage, adding that 10 electricity substations in the Odesa region alone have been hit this month.
The attack came as Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his confidence in Russia’s eventual victory in the nearly four-year-long war with Ukraine, even as renewed diplomatic efforts are under way to end the fighting.
Russia has intensified long-range drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities this year, with a particular focus in recent months on energy infrastructure as winter sets in. The campaign has aimed to disrupt electricity, heating and water supplies across the country.
According to United Nations figures released earlier this month, more than 2,300 Ukrainian civilians were killed and over 11,000 injured between January and November. The toll was 26 per cent higher than during the same period in 2024 and 70 per cent higher than in 2023.
Despite ongoing diplomatic moves, including talks involving the United States and European allies, Putin used his traditional New Year’s address on Wednesday to restate his belief in Russia’s success in Ukraine. He praised Russian troops deployed in the conflict, calling them heroes “fighting for your native land, truth and justice.”
“We believe in you and our victory,” Putin said, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
Putin delivered the recorded address against the backdrop of a snow-covered Kremlin, returning to a long-standing tradition that was broken only in 2022, the year Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Odesa attack drew strong condemnation from Ukrainian officials. Kiper said the strikes “are further evidence of the enemy’s terror tactics, which deliberately target civilian infrastructure.”
Tensions have also risen following claims by Moscow that Ukraine attempted to attack Putin’s residence in northwestern Russia using 91 long-range drones late Sunday and early Monday. Ukrainian officials have denied the allegation, calling it an attempt to derail peace negotiations.
Maj. Gen. Alexander Romanenkov of the Russian air force said on Wednesday that the drones were launched from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions. At a briefing where questions were not allowed, he presented a map showing the drones being intercepted over the Bryansk, Tver, Smolensk and Novgorod regions. The claims could not be independently verified.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, dismissed Russia’s allegations as “a deliberate distraction” from peace talks. “No one should accept unfounded claims from the aggressor who has indiscriminately targeted Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilians since the start of the war,” she wrote on X.
Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Romania and Croatia have joined a NATO-backed fund that purchases US-made weapons for Ukraine. The arrangement, known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, pools contributions from NATO members other than the United States.
Zelenskyy said 24 countries are now contributing to the fund, which has received $4.3 billion since its launch in August, including nearly $1.5 billion in December alone.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 127 drones overnight, with 101 intercepted by air defenses. Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, claimed that 86 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russian regions, the Black Sea and the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Local authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region said a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an oil refinery, which was quickly extinguished.
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