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By Mandy Taheri
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A Russian strike on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa killed eight people and wounded more than two dozen, Ukraine's emergency services said on Saturday. The attack came ahead of a meeting in Miami between a Kremlin envoy and U.S. officials to discuss a Russia-Ukraine peace plan.
Why It Matters
The latest round of talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. envoys ended Monday as Kyiv faces Washington’s pressure to swiftly accept a U.S.-brokered peace deal while confronting an increasingly assertive Moscow.
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The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces. Ukraine has continued to reject the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia. Territorial sovereignty has been at the crux of the war since Russian President Vladimir Putin led a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which was launched years after Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014.
Strikes across Russia and Ukraine have continued amid ongoing diplomatic engagements between U.S. officials and envoys from Kyiv and Moscow in recent weeks. Odesa is a major Black Sea port in southern Ukraine.
What to Know
Late Friday night, Russia reportedly struck people who were on a bus in Odesa, according to Ukraine’s emergency services. The strike caused trucks and other materials to catch fire, and wounded 27 people, the Associated Press reported citing the country’s emergency services.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that it had struck unspecified “transport and storage infrastructure used by the Ukrainian armed forces,” as well as energy facilities, but did not specifically acknowledge reports of the Odesa attack, according to the AP.
The Odesa region has been under repeated attacks, prompting officials to declare a state of emergency earlier this week. A significant portion of the city has been without electricity, and some areas are also without water, the country's emergency services said in a December 19 press release.
In light of recent strikes, energy company DTEK confirmed significant damage to power systems, noting that crews are working to restore electricity to critical infrastructure first. Authorities warned that emergency outages may still occur due to grid instability.
Russia and Ukraine have targeted each other’s energy infrastructure, especially in the fall and winter, straining the other’s supplies during the season’s brutal cold.
The strike comes just hours before Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev is expected to be in Miami to meet with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the AP reported. Zelensky said on Saturday that the Trump administration had proposed trilateral talks, a break from previous Ukraine- U.S. and Russia-U.S. talks.
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What People Are Saying
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a news conference in Portugal on Saturday: “The most difficult issues were and remain Ukraine’s territories. Next is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant…The third issue is funding for reconstruction. There are also several technical questions regarding security guarantees, monitoring formats, and so on."
Garry Kasparov, Russian chess grandmaster and political activist, wrote in an X post on Saturday in response to reporting about Witkoff: "Putin is even more interested in their bank account profiles than their psychological profiles. You don’t need to subtly manipulate people who already agree with you and want to do your bidding for profit. Witkoff and Trump aren’t victims, they are collaborators."
Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Special Envoy of the President of Russia, wrote in an X post on Saturday about a Wall Street Journal piece on Witkoff: "Steve Witkoff is a great Peacemaker—succeeded on Gaza and working hard on Ukraine. Warmongers have big media budgets and low morals. Shame on the WSJ. This was timed specifically to undermine the peace discussions but just strengthens joint resolve for peace and security."
What Happens Next
European leaders have agreed to provide 90 billion euros to Ukraine over the next two years for economic and military needs.
Witkoff, Kushner, and Dmitriev are expected to meet shortly, with Zelensky saying earlier today at the news conference that “the key question remains how the United States responds after consultations with the Russians. At this point, I honestly don’t know, but I will know later today.”
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