Russian strike kills 8 in Odesa, Ukraine as Kremlin envoy heads to US for peace talks
Listen to this article
Average 5 minutes
The audio version of this article was created by AI-based technology. It can be mispronounced. We are working with our partners to continuously review and improve the results.
A Russian missile strike on port infrastructure in Odesa, southern Ukraine, killed eight people and wounded 27, Ukrainian emergency services said Saturday, as the Kremlin’s ambassador was due to travel to Florida to discuss a US-proposed plan to end the nearly four-year war.
The talks are part of the Trump administration’s months-long peace process that included meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin earlier this week. Ukraine’s chief negotiator said late Friday that his delegation had completed separate meetings in the US with American and European allies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that much will depend on the position of the US after the talks with Russia.
Speaking at a news conference in Kyiv with Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, Zelenskyy said “the key question remains how the United States reacts after consulting with the Russians. At this point, I honestly don’t know, but I will know later today.”
Ukraine and Portugal have signed an agreement to establish joint production of maritime drones, Zelenskyy said. “This is one of the most promising areas of defense cooperation. What is important now is to deliver results, and all parts of Europe must have enough power to deal with any threats,” he said.
Some of those injured in Odesa were on a bus in the middle of the strike late Friday, emergency officials said in a post on the Telegram messaging service. Trucks burned in the parking lot, and cars were damaged.
The port was attacked with missiles, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa region.
Moscow did not immediately deny reports of the attack.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that it had hit “unspecified transport and storage infrastructure used by the Ukrainian military,” as well as energy facilities and those that supply the Kyiv military.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian jets hit a Russian oil rig, the Okhotnik warship and other facilities, the Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement on Saturday.
It said the ship was sailing in the Caspian Sea near an oil and gas production facility. The extent of the damage is yet to be determined.
The drilling platform at the Filanovsky oil and gas field was also hit. The facility is operated by Russian oil giant Lukoil. Ukrainian drones also hit a radar system in the area Krasnoselsky Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
There was no immediate comment from the Russian government or Lukoil. The company is one of two Russian oil majors – alongside state-owned Gazprom – targeted by the latest US sanctions aimed at depriving Moscow of oil exports that help fuel the war.
Kyiv has used similar arguments to justify its months-long strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, saying it both funds and directly fuels the Kremlin’s attacks, which are now in their fifth year.
Trump’s peace campaign will continue on Saturday
US President Donald Trump has launched a major campaign to end the war, but his efforts have faced the fiercely conflicting demands of Moscow and Kyiv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently signaled that he is committed to his pursuit of Ukraine, as Moscow’s forces advance on the battlefield despite heavy losses.
On Friday, Putin expressed confidence that the Kremlin will achieve its military goals if Kyiv does not agree to Russia’s conditions in the peace talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held an hours-long news conference at the end of the year in which he repeated dubious claims about Ukraine starting the ongoing war between the two countries and said Russia was ready for peace.
European Union leaders on Friday agreed to give Ukraine 90 billion euros ($106 billion) to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years, although they failed to end a standoff with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise funds. Instead, they borrowed from the capital markets.
After nearly four years of war, the International Monetary Fund estimates that Ukraine will need 137 billion euros ($161 billion) in 2026 and 2027. The Kyiv government is at risk of bankruptcy and is in desperate need of money in the spring.
Meanwhile, Kirill Dmitriev, who represents the Kremlin, will meet with Trump’s ambassador, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner in Miami on Saturday, according to a US official. The official spoke on the condition of being reserved to preview the meeting which has not been announced publicly.
The official said Witkoff and Kushner will sit down with Dmitriev, after meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin to discuss US security guarantees for Kyiv, concessions and other aspects of the US-drafted plan.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said on Friday a Ukrainian delegation met with American and European partners in the US. He gave few details but said they agreed to continue “joint work in the near future.”
Asked about the meeting in Miami, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Moscow was preparing to contact the US to learn about the results of the meetings in Berlin, but did not provide details.
