Russian attack on Ukraine’s Odesa kills at least 8 as peace talks lumber on

A Russian ballistic missile strike on port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa has killed at least eight people and wounded 27, as Moscow intensifies attacks on the strategic Black Sea region while talks to end the war remain at a critical stage.

The attack late on Friday hit key logistics infrastructure, with some of the wounded trapped on a bus at the strike’s epicentre as trucks caught fire in a nearby car park.

Ukrainian officials say the bombardment is part of a sustained Russian campaign against Odesa’s civilian infrastructure that has left more than two million people without electricity, water and heating for days amid freezing temperatures in the war’s fourth punishing winter.

Moscow struck the same port again on Saturday, hitting reservoirs in what Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba described as a deliberate targeting of civilian logistics routes.

The escalation comes as both sides trade blows across multiple fronts, while United States-led negotiations and numerous high-level meetings in Europe aimed at ending the war continue without a breakthrough.

Russia claimed on Saturday to have seized the villages of Svitle in the eastern Donetsk region and Vysoke in the northeastern Sumy region, though the reports could not be independently verified.

Ukraine has responded with a widening campaign against Russian military and energy assets.

On Friday night, Ukrainian drones struck the Filanovsky oil rig belonging to Russian energy giant Lukoil in the Caspian Sea, along with a military patrol ship operating near the platform.

The attack marked the first officially acknowledged Ukrainian strike on Caspian drilling infrastructure, though the rig had been hit at least twice before in December.

Between December 14 and 15, Ukrainian forces used sea drones to strike a Russian Kilo-class submarine at the Novorossiysk naval base in the Black Sea, according to a United Kingdom defence intelligence assessment.

Potential future election

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made remarks on a potential future presidential election following a peace or ceasefire deal the United States has been trying to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.

Any election in Ukraine cannot be held in Russia-occupied parts of the country, he said on Saturday, adding that the voting process can only take place if security is ensured.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s foreign minister has begun preliminary work on the infrastructure needed to make voting possible for Ukrainians living abroad.

Ukrainian law prohibits elections during wartime, though polls could be held if martial law is lifted or the relevant legislation is changed.

He said earlier this week that he supported online voting for Ukrainians living abroad in a future presidential election.

Miami talks

The recent attacks and the president’s comments come as American and European officials gather in Miami for weekend talks aimed at ending the nearly four-year war, with Russian and Ukrainian teams also in attendance.

Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Saturday he was heading to Miami.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would not force Ukraine into any agreement, though he described the conflict as “not our war”.

Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are leading discussions with Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov and officials from the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Russian representatives, including Kremlin negotiator Dmitriev, are meeting separately with American officials.

The key obstacle remains territorial concessions, with reports suggesting Washington is pushing Kyiv to cede parts of the eastern Donetsk region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin showed no signs of compromise at his annual choreographed news conference on Friday, pledging to press ahead with military operations and predicting new successes before the end of the year.

Putin’s remarks were the latest in a drumbeat of often-repeated maximalist Russian positions nearly four years after he ordered troops into the neighbouring country.

The issue of territory gained, lost, to be ceded or not lies at the heart of one of the most contentious aspects of the negotiations to end the war.

Putin has demanded Ukraine cede all territory in four key regions his forces have captured and occupied, along with Crimea, which Moscow seized and annexed in 2014.

He has also demanded Ukrainian troops withdraw from parts of eastern Ukraine that Russian forces have not yet taken in the Donetsk region, conditions Kyiv has rejected outright.

As talks continue, so does the fighting, with Russia controlling large parts of Ukraine’s eastern regions and areas along the Black Sea coast.

Putin projected confidence on Friday about battlefield progress, saying Russian forces had “fully seized the strategic initiative” and would make further gains before the year ends.

That narrative has been challenged this week, however, as Ukraine retook most of the northern city of Kupiansk after isolating Russian forces there, and successfully held positions in the eastern city of Pokrovsk, contradicting Moscow’s claims of total control.

Ukraine received a boost on Friday when European leaders agreed to provide a 90bn-euro ($105bn) loan to cover military and economic needs for the next two years.

Zelenskyy, who met Polish President Karol Nawrocki in Warsaw the same day to reinforce regional unity against Russia, said the funds would be used for defence if the war continues or reconstruction if peace is achieved.