Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Jul 14, 2025

Missiles slam into strategic port of Odesa in Ukraine

Missiles slam into strategic port of Odesa in Ukraine

As the war on Ukraine rages, Russia, who launched the assault on Feb. 24, claimed that it had attacked Odesa, on major port hub, and targeted infrastructure.
Missile slammed into the Ukrainian city of Odesa Sunday morning. The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces destroyed an oil refinery and three fuel storages with high-precision sea and air missiles in the Odesa region, Interfax news agency reports.

It said that the facilities were being used by Ukraine to supply its troops near the city of Mykolaiv. Ukrainian officials said that there are no known casualties from the early morning strike.

All eyes have turned to the southern port city, where explosions were heard on Sunday morning.

Odesa has been preparing for an imminent attack for weeks now, with Russian warships circling off the Black Sea coast.

Residents left, and cafes and trams emptied as streets were covered in tank traps and famous monuments surrounded by protective sandbags.

But the city had since begun to cautiously reopen, despite the air raid sirens, neighborhood patrols and fears of a Russian attack, the BBC’s Andrew Harding reported last week.

The confidence was believed to partly be the result of Russia’s stalled advance along the Black Sea coast.

But how prepared is Odesa, given Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy’s warning that Russian forces would now focus on capturing the east and south?

Some analysts believe it will be hard for Russia to take Odesa by sea without first establishing a base on land.

But meanwhile, the city’s vast catacombs — some 2,500km of underground tunnels — are being repurpsoed as air raid shelters.

In a post on his Telegram channel, Ukrainian military official Vladislav Nazarov said that so far there are no known casualties following the attack.

Nazarov added that critical infrastructure facilities were damaged but didn’t give any more details on the target.

On Saturday, Ukraine’s chief negotiator said negotiations had advanced far enough to make a meeting between presidents Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin a possibility.

Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky is now suggesting that this is not the case. “The draft agreement is not ready for submission to a meeting at the top,” Medinsky posted on his Telegram channel.

In the Ukrainian army’s daily operational update, its military officials gave details of Russian attacks in the eastern Donbas region.

“On the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the defenders of Ukraine repulsed six enemy attacks, destroyed four tanks, six units of armored vehicles and seven units of enemy vehicles,” military officials said in a Facebook post.

The UK’s Ministry of Defense too published its morning update on the conflict.

According to its military intelligence, the UK has observed a concentration of Russian air activity on Ukraine’s south-east — which it suggests is part of a strategic refocusing by Moscow on the region.

While Russian forces may still be capable of an amphibious landing on Ukrainian territory, the UK believes this would be an increasingly risky operation given the time Ukrainian forces have now had to prepare.

Russia has shifted most of the focus of its war to eastern Ukraine — specifically the two big regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, which run from outside Mariupol in the south all the way to the northern border.

This push into the area known as Donbas could signal a more prolonged conflict, said the US.

“The key is that it has been identified by the Kremlin as a Russian-speaking part of Ukraine that is more Russia than Ukraine,” said Sam Cranny-Evans of the Royal United Services Institute.

These areas may be broadly Russian-speaking, but they are no longer pro-Russian.

“Mariupol was one of the most pro-Russian cities in Ukraine and to level it is beyond my comprehension,” says defense specialist Konrad Muzyka, head of Rochan Consulting.

Russian forces have already triggered a humanitarian catastrophe in the east, reducing Mariupol to ruins, but they have failed to inflict defeat on Ukraine’s military.

Russia’s next aim will be to push south to encircle Slovyansk, a city of 125,000 people that already experienced war at close hand when it was seized by Russian-backed forces in 2014 before being recaptured.

“What is the goal of the Russian troops? They want to capture Donbas and the south of Ukraine,” President Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Saturday.

He said that Ukrainian forces too were shifting their attention eastward: “We are aware that the enemy has reserves to increase pressure in the east.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
French Journalist Acquitted in Controversial Case Involving Brigitte Macron
Elon Musk’s xAI Targets $200 Billion Valuation in New Fundraising Round
Kraft Heinz Considers Splitting Off Grocery Division Amid Strategic Review
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
EU Proposes New Tax on Large Companies to Boost Budget
Trump Imposes 35% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Amid Trade Tensions
Junior Doctors in the UK Prepare for Five-Day Strike Over Pay Disputes
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Biden’s Doctor Pleads the Fifth to Avoid Self-Incrimination on President’s Medical Fitness
Grok Chatbot Faces International Backlash for Antisemitic Content
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
×