Russian Drone Attack in Odesa Kills Three; Ukraine Targets Novorossiysk Oil Terminal

A Russian drone attack on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa resulted in the deaths of two women and a two-year-old child, according to Ukrainian authorities. The nighttime strike severely damaged an apartment building, with rescue teams working under floodlights to extract four individuals from the debris. Eleven people were hospitalized, including a pregnant woman and two children under the age of one, as reported by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In the southern city of Kherson, Russian shelling claimed the life of an elderly woman and injured three others, aged 86, 79, and 44, who were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds and other injuries, stated Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration. Additionally, Russian drones and shelling in Nikopol injured seven people, leaving a 62-year-old in critical condition, and damaged a multistory building and a pharmacy. In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, drone attacks injured three individuals, according to regional military administration head Oleh Sinehubov.

Over the past week, Russia has launched more than 2,800 attack drones, nearly 1,350 powerful glide bombs, and over 40 missiles of various types at Ukraine, President Zelenskyy reported. These attacks have targeted civilian areas and critical infrastructure, including the power grid in regions such as Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Dnipro. As a result, over 300,000 households in northern Chernihiv are without electricity due to damage to distribution facilities.

In response, Ukrainian forces have intensified their use of long-range drones to target Russian energy infrastructure. On the night of April 5-6, Ukrainian drones struck the Sheskharis oil terminal in the Russian port city of Novorossiysk, one of the largest oil and petroleum product transshipment facilities in southern Russia. The attack damaged six of the seven oil-loading jetties, a key pipeline system unit, and an oil metering unit, leading to large-scale fires at the site. The terminal supplies fuel to Russian forces engaged in the conflict against Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that Ukrainian drones targeted the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's marine terminal in Novorossiysk, damaging a mooring point, a loading and unloading terminal, and setting four oil storage tanks ablaze. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline handles approximately 1% of the world's oil supplies and about 80% of Kazakhstan's exports.

These developments underscore the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with both sides targeting critical infrastructure and civilian areas. The international community continues to monitor the situation closely, as the humanitarian and economic impacts of the conflict persist.