A devastating Russian missile strike on a port in southern Ukraine killed eight people overnight, as bombing intensified from both sides in the deadly war.
The ballistic missile in Odesa slammed into a parking lot in the key port, injuring 30, destroying a truck and damaging several cars, according to the Associated Press.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it struck unspecified “transport and storage infrastructure used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
Flames burn through a truck struck by a Russian missile in Odessa, Ukraine, on Dec. 20, 2025. via REUTERSFriday’s late night attack was followed by another airstrike Saturday morning.
“The attack does not stop. After 8 a.m., another attack was recorded on the port of Pivdennyi – there are hits in the storage tanks,” Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said, The Kyiv Post reported.
In recent weeks, Moscow has escalated its attacks in the southern Ukraine region, including Odesa, which one Ukrainian government official described as “systematic.”
“The enemy is purposefully destroying the logistical infrastructure of the Odesa region and terrorizing civilians, trying to interrupt the communication of the South of Ukraine,” Kuleba said.
Firefighters extinguish a fire at the site of a Russian missile and drone strike. via REUTERSThe attacks into Saturday saw four facilities that are responsible for transporting electricity to the Odesa region disabled with 37,000 Ukrainian households in that area waking up in the dark during a cold winter, according to The Kyiv Post.
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) inflicted damage of its own, launching successful drone strikes on two war fronts drone — striking a Russian oil rig, a military patrol ship and other targets, Ukraine’s General staff announced Saturday.
The port was struck with ballistic missiles, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa region. via REUTERSThe patrol ship named Project 22460 Hunter was hit by a kamikaze drone as it floated in the Caspian Sea, according to The Kyiv Independent.
SSO drones also damaged a Russian oil platform located at the Filanovsky oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea, the outlet reported.
A key oil field of Moscow, its reserves are estimated to be about 129 million tons and an additional 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas, according to the SSO.
There is no official word on the extent of damage or whether there were any casualties as a result of those strikes.
The strike was conducted on the same day the Ukraine Special Operations Forces reported a hit on a Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea.
Ukraine ha claimed to have destroyed or disabled one-third of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet since the outset of the war.
As the war raged on in the breadbasket of Europe, diplomats from the two warring countries met separately with US officials in Miami, Florida, as the Trump administration’s hopes for peace prove elusive.
