Russian attacks kill 4 as Ukraine drones target oil infrastructure

Russian drone strikes killed two women and a toddler in Ukraine’s port city of Odesa on Monday, as the conflict continues to exact a heavy civilian toll across the country. The nighttime attack severely damaged an apartment block, with rescuers working through the night to pull survivors from the rubble.

Ukrainian authorities reported that eleven people were hospitalized following the Odesa attack, including a pregnant woman and two children—one less than a year old. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared these details in a statement on social media platform X.

The violence extended beyond Odesa, with Russian shelling in Kherson killing an elderly woman and injuring three others. The wounded women, aged 86, 79, and 44, suffered various injuries including shrapnel wounds, concussions, and head trauma, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration.

In Nikopol, a southern Ukrainian city, Russian drone strikes and shelling injured seven people, with a 62-year-old resident left in critical condition. The attacks damaged a multi-story building and a pharmacy. Meanwhile, drone strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, resulted in three injuries, regional officials confirmed.

The systematic targeting of civilian areas has been a hallmark of Russia’s invasion since it began more than four years ago. According to United Nations data, these attacks have claimed over 15,000 civilian lives.

Beyond the direct civilian casualties, Russia has intensified its campaign against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. Overnight barrages targeted energy facilities in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Dnipro regions, leaving hundreds of thousands without power. In northern Chernihiv alone, more than 300,000 households lost electricity after distribution facilities were damaged.

The scale of Russia’s assault has been relentless. President Zelenskyy reported that in the past week alone, Russia has launched more than 2,800 attack drones, nearly 1,350 powerful glide bombs, and over 40 missiles of various types against Ukrainian targets.

Amid this escalating violence, Zelenskyy has voiced concern that the war in the Middle East is depleting stockpiles of critical defense systems that Ukraine needs, particularly American-made Patriot air defense systems capable of intercepting missiles. In a weekend interview with The Associated Press, he emphasized that “Russia has no intention of stopping” its invasion and called on Ukraine’s international partners to “strengthen air defense together so that the interception rate of drones and missiles continues to increase.”

Ukraine has responded to the ongoing assault by developing its own long-range drone capabilities, now reaching targets up to 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) inside Russia. These drones have recently targeted Russian oil facilities, including a significant overnight strike on the Novorossiysk oil terminal, one of Russia’s largest Black Sea ports for oil exports.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the Novorossiysk attack damaged a pipeline, loading and unloading berths, and set fire to four tanks containing petroleum products. The strike affected assets belonging to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which is run by U.S. and Kazakhstani companies. Russian officials reported that eight people, including two children, were injured in the attack, which also damaged six apartment buildings and two private houses.

Ukrainian forces also claimed to have hit a Russian Black Sea frigate, the Admiral Makarov, and a drilling rig, though Russian officials did not immediately comment on these assertions.

The targeting of Russian oil facilities comes as Moscow looks to boost its exports following a temporary waiver from sanctions granted by the Trump administration to ease supply constraints. Ukrainian officials have criticized this development, arguing that Russia will channel the additional revenue into new weapons to intensify its attacks on Ukraine.

As U.S.-led peace efforts remain stalled, the conflict continues to escalate on both sides with no clear end in sight.