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Ukraine and Russia carried out airstrikes along opposing Black Sea coastlines early Thursday, just hours after direct talks between the two sides ended without progress toward ending their nearly three-and-a-half-year war.
Russian forces staged the latest in a series of mass drone attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa, injuring at least four people and causing several fires as well as damage in the historic centre, a UNESCO world heritage site.
The famous Pryvoz market in Odesa was among the places hit, Regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said. “It is not just a place of trade, it is the living heart of Odesa,” he added.
On Thursday morning, some residents were cleaning up shattered glass in the streets nearby.
“So what if the (drones) are flying? We will shoot them down; they will not break us,” Yevhen, a 20-year-old student among those helping with the cleanup, told Reuters.
Emergency officials in Russia’s Krasnodar region on the Black Sea said debris from a falling drone struck and killed a woman in the Adler district near the resort city of Sochi. A second woman was being treated in hospital for serious injuries, they said on the Telegram messaging app.
The administrative head of the Sirius federal district, south of Sochi, said a drone hit an oil base, giving no further details. Russia’s aviation authority said operations were suspended at Sochi airport for about four hours.
Russia also attacked the central region of Cherkasy overnight, injuring seven people, including a 9-year-old, and damaging more than a dozen residential apartment buildings.
Negotiators had earlier discussed further prisoner swaps at a brief session of peace talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul, but they remained far apart on cease-fire terms and a possible meeting of their leaders.
“Yesterday, at a meeting in Istanbul, the Russian side was again presented with a proposal to immediately and completely cease fire. In response, Russian drones are striking residential buildings,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
He said Russia had launched 103 drones and four missiles during its overnight attack, which Deputy Prime Minister Oleskiy Kuleba said struck civilian infrastructure, including seaports, transport hubs, and residential areas.
Russian forces have in recent weeks intensified drone attacks on towns and cities far from the 1,000 kilometers (620-mile) frontline across eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military has been targeting energy and military sites in Russia in response to concerted Russian attacks, which have destroyed towns and cities and devastated its energy infrastructure.
