Ukrainian drone strike sparks fires at Russian Black Sea port

A Ukrainian drone strike ignited fires at one of Russia’s Black Sea ports, officials said on Sunday, ahead of fresh talks aimed at ending the nearly four-year-old war.

Two people were injured in the attack on the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, which damaged an oil storage tank, warehouse and terminals, according to regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev.

Meanwhile, falling debris from Russian drones damaged civilian and transport infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region, officials said, causing disruption to the power and water supply.

Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian energy sites aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion.

Russia, meanwhile, wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponise winter”.

The latest attacks came ahead of another round of US-brokered talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva, just before the fourth anniversary of the all-out Russian invasion of its neighbour on February 22.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested there are still questions remaining over future security guarantees for his country.

He also questioned how the concept of a free trade zone – proposed by the US – would work in the Donbas region, which Russia insists Kyiv must give up for peace.

He said the Americans want peace as quickly as possible and the US team wants to sign all the agreements on Ukraine at the same time, whereas Ukraine wants guarantees for the country’s future security signed first.

Mr Zelensky’s concerns were echoed by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a ranking member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Unless we have real security guarantees on whatever peace agreement is ultimately determined, we are going to be here again, because one of the things we know is that Russia has geared up not just for Ukraine, but to go beyond Ukraine,” she told reporters in Munich on Sunday.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia is hoping to win diplomatically what it had failed to achieve on the battlefield, and is banking on the US to deliver concessions at the negotiating table.

But she told the Munich conference on Sunday that key Russian demands – including the lifting of sanctions and unfreezing of assets – are decisions for Europe.

“If we want a sustainable peace then we need concessions also from the Russian side,” she said.

Previous US-led efforts to find consensus on ending the war have failed to resolve difficult issues, such as the future of Ukraine’s Donbas industrial heartland that is largely occupied by Russian forces.