The latest attacks in fighting between both sides come ahead of another round of US-brokered talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva.
Ukrainian authorities said Sunday that a drone strike ignited fires at one of Russia’s Black Sea ports ahead of this week's fresh talks aimed at ending the nearly four-year-old war.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
According to regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev, two people were wounded in the attack on the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, which damaged an oil storage tank, warehouse and terminals, while officials in Ukraine's Odesa region reported falling debris from Russian drones damaged civilian and transport infrastructure, causing disruption to the power and water supply.
The latest attacks in fighting between both sides come ahead of another round of US-brokered talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva.
It also comes ahead of the fourth anniversary of the all-out Russian invasion of its neighbour which began on 24 February 2022.
Ukrainian authorities say their long-range drone attacks against Russian energy facilities are intended to deny Moscow the money it needs from oil exports in order to carry out its full-scale invasion.
Their attacks are also seen as a response to Russia's massive strikes to destroy the Ukrainian electricity grid in order to prevent citizens from having access to running water, heat, or light.
Recent Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure have killed dozens of civilians and workers.
Zelenskyy: Questions remain over security guarantees
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested there were still questions remaining over future security guarantees for his country.
His concerns were echoed by Sen. 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.
Zelenskyy 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 that 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.
Meanwhile, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned on Sunday that Russia was hoping to win diplomatically what it had failed to achieve on the battlefield and was banking on the US to deliver concessions at the negotiating table.
Kallas told the Munich conference that key Russian demands — including the lifting of sanctions and unfreezing of assets — were decisions for Europe.
“If we want a sustainable peace then we need concessions also from the Russian side,” she said.
Previous US-led attempts to reach an agreement to end the war, including two rounds of negotiations in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, have fallen short in resolving complex issues, including what to do with Ukraine's industrial heartland of Donbas, whose large parts are controlled by Russian forces.