Russia launches drone attack on Ukraine port providing access to Black See

Russia launched an overnight drone attack on the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv that provides the country with access to the Black Sea and struck Kryvyi Rih in what Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday was the war’s biggest drone attack on the city.

The United States reached separate deals on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to pause their attacks over the Black Sea and against each other’s energy targets, but it was not clear when and how the deals would come into force.

The mayor of Mykolaiv said there were emergency power outages early on Wednesday in the city, following a report by the region’s governor that seven drones were destroyed overnight over the region.

It was not immediately clear whether the power cuts were precautionary or a result of the overnight attack on Mykolaiv.

Russia also attacked the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, spurring fires and damaging buildings but causing no deaths, the head of the city’s military administration said.

“Apparently, this is how the occupiers ‘want peace’,” Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the military administration, wrote on the Telegram messaging app, describing it as the war’s biggest drone attack on the city. “Most importantly, there were no deaths or injuries.”

Reuters could not independently verify the reports from Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih. The size of the attack on Kryvyi Rih and what was targeted there were not immediately clear.

Vilkul had earlier reported at least 15 explosions in Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s hometown and a frequent target of Russian attacks.

There was no immediate comment from Russia, but the Russian defence ministry said that its air defence units destroyed nine Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over the waters of the Black Sea.