Russian drones struck the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odessa, injuring three people and starting massive fires, officials said.
The attack underscores Moscow's intention to continue air strikes even after it agreed to temporarily halt strikes on energy facilities.
The strike came shortly before Czech President Petr Pavel visited Odessa on Friday morning and held meetings with city leaders and officials from other southern regions.
“This is another reminder to the whole world: the war continues, and Ukraine continues to fight,” said a statement from the head of the Odessa region, Oleg Kiper.
He reported fires in at least three places after the attack late on Thursday.
“Civil infrastructure, commercial buildings are burning, cars are damaged,” Mr. Kiper said.
Reacting to the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “joint pressure on Russia, increased sanctions and defense support for our state… are the way to stop such terror and Russia’s continuation of the war.”
Mr Zelensky said in a statement on Telegram: “We expect real pressure on Russia from the US, Europe and all our partners. This is what will allow diplomacy to work.”
More than 70 people and 20 fire engines were involved in putting out what emergency services called “major fires”.
In another attack in the Zaporizhia region overnight, Russian glide bombs wounded at least six people, including a child.
The head of the region, Ivan Fedorov, published photographs showing firefighters extinguishing flames in several damaged residential buildings.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had launched 214 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks. Of these, 114 were reportedly intercepted and another 81 were jammed.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that air defense shot down 43 Ukrainian drones, 34 of them over the Volgograd region, and the rest over the Rostov, Kursk and Belgorod regions.
Authorities did not report any casualties or significant damage.
Meanwhile, a major fire continues to rage at an oil depot in the Krasnodar region, which was attacked by a Ukrainian drone on Wednesday evening.
Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle on Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the countries' leaders this week, although it was not clear what possible targets would be off-limits.
After a roughly hour-long conversation with Mr. Trump on Wednesday, Mr. Zelensky told reporters that “technical” talks in Saudi Arabia this weekend would focus on what types of infrastructure would be protected from attack under the agreement.
The three sides appeared to have very different views on what the deal would cover. While the White House said “energy and infrastructure” would be covered, the Kremlin said the agreement focused on the narrower “energy infrastructure.”
Mr Zelensky said he also wanted railways and ports to be protected.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed on Friday that the agreement reached between Trump and Putin only concerns energy facilities, adding that the Russian military is following Putin's order to stop such attacks for 30 days.
“The Russian military is currently refraining from striking Ukraine's energy infrastructure in accordance with the agreement reached between Russia and the United States,” Peskov said during a conference call with reporters.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
