In Odesa, shifting dynamics provoke fatigue and anger

Russian attacks on civilian targets in the Black Sea port city have increased since the political thaw between Trump and Putin

- Luke Harding

Olena Palash heard a loud buzzing above her flat in the Ukrainian port of Odesa. It was 11pm. First one drone, and another, then more. Soon afterwards, one of the Shaheeds crashed into the children's clinic where she works. An explosion shredded the building's facade. The metal covering of a car park was remade into a spaghetti-like jumble. Another drone smashed into a nearby kindergarten.

The attack on 18 February knocked out a substation and plunged some of the city into darkness. Four people were injured, including a 10-year-old girl, and 80,000 were left without heat. Last week the Kremlin dispatched a record 267 drones on the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion. Over last weekend two civilians were killed, and at least 20 injured. Each strike fans anger at Donald Trump, whose treatment of Volodymyr Zelenskyy last Friday in the White House caused outrage and dismay.

Even before the car-crash encounter, there was consternation over the US president's closeness to Moscow. Trump has blamed Ukraine for starting the war that began with Russia's 2014 invasion and was accused by Zelenskyy of existing in a Russian "disinformation bubble". Last Friday, Washington terminated its programme to help repair Ukraine's disrupted energy grid.

"Everything is back to front. After three years of war, I'm astounded. Trump doesn't understand who the aggressor is. Someone has given him wrong information," Palash said, showing off her clinic's gutted laboratory. Air conditioners dangled from the ceiling, next to a broken blood machine. "The Russians destroy everything and we are the aggressors?"