Russia's drone attack hours after peace talks in Saudi Arabia showed Moscow is "mocking" the U.S.
Drones fired by President Vladimir Putin's forces caused widespread power cuts in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, leaving most of its residents without power, water, or heating.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and other senior officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss improving ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine.
The Open Source Intelligence Monitor account on X condemned Russia's latest attack.
"Less than 24 hours after this morning's negotiations between U.S. and Russian Officials in Saudi Arabia, Russia tonight has launched one of its largest drone attacks in recent months against Odesa and other Cities across Ukraine; with over 150 Iranian-produced drones targeting energy infrastructure and other Ukrainian sensitive sites. They are mocking us," OSINTdefender posted Tuesday night on X.
The Ukrainian military said Wednesday that Russia launched 167 drones and two missiles during overnight attacks.
The air force shot down 106 drones and 56 more did not reach their targets, probably owing to electronic countermeasures, it said without specifying what happened to the remaining five drones.
The mayor of Odesa said his city was hit by the strikes.
"Hospitals, clinics and social infrastructure sites were left without heating," Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov said wrote on the Telegram messaging app, describing the strike on Odesa as "massive."
Odesa has been a frequent target of Russian attacks in the nearly three-year-old war, particularly facilities in the three ports in and around the city.
Trukhanov posted pictures on Telegram showing buildings with windows blown out and facades damaged. He made no mention of casualties and said experts were assessing the damage.
Russian drones also hit a residential building in the city of Dolynska in central Ukraine, injuring a mother and her two children and forcing evacuations from 38 apartments, a regional official said on Tuesday.
"A difficult night for the Kirovohrad region," Andriy Raikovych, the region's governor, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. "An enemy drone hit a high-rise building in Dolynska."
The mother and one of the children were taken to hospital, said Raikovych, who posted photos of flames bursting out of windows of a high-story apartment building.
Reuters contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.