Firefighters tackle a blaze following a Russian drone strike on Odesa, southern Ukraine, 31 December 2025. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
Russia attacked the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa and the surrounding region with drones overnight, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Wednesday.
Six people, including three children, were injured in the attacks, according to Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper, five of whom were hospitalised, with one person in a serious condition.
One attack on a residential building in the city caused fire to break out in apartments from the first to fifth floors. Several other residential buildings and vehicles also suffered damage, Kiper added.
The city’s port infrastructure was also targeted, with oil tanks catching fire and a civilian ship damaged, according to the emergency services. Fire also broke out at the warehouses of a logistics company in the Odesa region.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that the Russian military had fired 127 drones at targets across Ukraine overnight, 101 of which were intercepted by air defence systems.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones attacked an oil refinery in the southern Russian port of Tuapse on the Black Sea overnight, according to the authorities in the Krasnodar region. The authorities said that five residential buildings had also been struck by Ukrainian drones, injuring two people.
Equipment at the port of Tuapse, as well as at a nearby refinery were also damaged, while a fire that engulfed an area of 300 square metres at the refinery was subsequently extinguished, the regional authorities added.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said that its air defence systems had intercepted 86 Ukrainian drones overnight on Tuesday as well as on Wednesday morning, and added that 56 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the Black Sea, while five more were intercepted over the Krasnodar region.
