Russian drones blast apartments

Russian drones blasted apartment buildings and the power grid in the southern Ukraine city of Odesa in an overnight attack that injured six people, including a toddler and two other children, officials said Wednesday.

- BY ILLIA NOVIKOV

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed confidence in his country’s eventual victory in the nearly four-year war against its neighbor.

Four apartment buildings were damaged in the Odesa bombardment, according to regional military administration head Oleh Kiper. The DTEK power provider said two of its energy facilities had significant damage. The company said 10 substations that distribute electricity in the region were damaged in December.

Russia has escalated attacks on urban areas of Ukraine. As its invasion approaches a four-year milestone in February, it has also intensified targeting of energy infrastructure, seeking to deny Ukrainians heat and running water in the bitter winter months.

Between January and November, more than 2,300 Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 11,000 were injured, the United Nations said earlier in December. That was 26% higher than in the same period in 2024 and 70% higher than in 2023, it said.

Diplomatic push

President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said he, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner had a “productive call” with the national security advisors of Britain, France, Germany and Ukraine “to discuss advancing the next steps in the European peace process.”

“We focused on how to move the discussions forward in a practical way on behalf of [Trump's] peace process, including strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not restart,” Witkoff said in a post on X.

He added that a main element of the conversation was the reconstruction of Ukraine and how to ensure its prosperity in the future.