'Russia is targeting civilians' — Casualties, outages reported following Russian drone strikes on residential buildings in Odesa
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russian forces launched a large-scale drone attack on Odesa overnight Dec. 30-31, striking residential buildings, leaving parts of the city without heat, electricity or water, and injuring four people, including three children, local officials said.
Explosions were reported in the city around 12:20 a.m. local time, according to a Kyiv Independent journalist on the ground.
Ukraine's Air Force warned of dozens of drones approaching the city late on Dec. 30. Air raid warnings were also issued amid the threat of ballistic missile attacks.
Serhii Lysak, the head of Odesa City Military Administration, first reported that two multi-storey residential buildings had been struck by Russian drones amid the attack. A fire broke out at one of the buildings, leading to an unspecified number of casualties, including children, Lysak added.
"Another proof that Russia is targeting civilians," Lysak wrote on social media following the strike on the building.
Afterwards, Lysak reported that four people were injured in the Russian attack on Odesa. Among them, three were children, including a 7-month-old infant.
Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper also reported that a fire broke out at a warehouse of a logistics company. Falling drone debris also caused vehicle fires in the city.
No information was immediately available as to the extent of damage caused.
Odesa and the surrounding regions have recently come under Russian fire amid Moscow's ongoing attacks on Ukraine's energy sector — which have intensified with colder weather in an apparent effort to create a nationwide blackout.
Power outages in Odesa Oblast are linked to Russian attacks from October through December, with the scale of damage to energy facilities from Russian attacks making rolling blackouts unpredictable, Ukraine's Energy Ministry said on Dec. 30.
Russian forces have regularly attacked Ukrainian cities in recent months amid U.S. efforts to negotiate an end of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Despite multiple rounds of negotiations, the fate of ongoing peace talks remains uncertain amid Moscow's refusal to budge from its maximalist demands in Ukraine.
