Russia’s Overnight Strikes Injure Four In Ukraine

…As Ukraine Damages Russian Refinery

Russia and Ukraine exchanged overnight aerial attacks that left civilians injured in southern Ukraine and damaged key energy infrastructure in southwest Russia, according to officials from both countries.

Russian forces launched a drone assault on Ukraine’s Odesa region overnight, striking residential areas and critical infrastructure and injuring four people, including three children, regional authorities said on Wednesday.

Odesa, a major Black Sea port, has been repeatedly targeted since the start of the war nearly four years ago.

The governor of the Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, said strike drones hit residential, logistics and energy facilities across the area. In Odesa city, the administrative centre of the region, the head of the military administration, Serhiy Lisak, said those injured included a seven-month-old baby, two other children and a 42-year-old man.

According to Lisak, drone debris and direct hits damaged the facades and windows of several high-rise apartment buildings.

According to Reuters, images posted by regional officials showed smoke billowing from a multi-storey building at night, flames visible in several windows and firefighters battling the blaze.

In a separate development, Russian authorities said a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire and damaged equipment at the Tuapse oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region, injuring two people.

The regional operational headquarters said the blaze was quickly extinguished after burning about 300 square metres.

The attack also damaged one port berth and several homes, with windows broken in apartment blocks and a private house. Officials did not specify whether refinery operations were halted or the full extent of the damage.

Tuapse, located on the Black Sea about 350 kilometres from Ukraine’s mainland, is one of Russia’s key outlets for oil products. The Rosneft-owned refinery has a processing capacity of about 240,000 barrels of crude oil per day and has been hit repeatedly by Ukrainian drone strikes during the conflict.