Four people, including a child, were killed overnight in Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev has said.
Another 29 people were injured across the city, the official said on Wednesday morning. Three of the victims are in a serious condition, he added.
Novorossiysk is a key hub for Russian maritime trade, which Kiev has been trying to disrupt with regular long-range attacks on ships and port infrastructure.
Kondratyev stressed that only civilian sites were targeted by Ukrainian forces. A church and a kindergarten were damaged, as well as three private homes and five apartment blocks, he reported. Ukrainian strikes also damaged homes in the resort town of Anapa, located some 40 km northwest of Novorossiysk.
Gelendzhik, another resort town in Krasnodar Region to the southeast of Novorossiysk, came under what Mayor Aleksey Bogodistov described as a “most massive and lengthy” drone raid. He did not report any casualties.
Russian air defenses intercepted 596 Ukrainian drones in 12 hours overnight into Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said.
In June, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky ordered mass attacks on Russian ships, which was part of Kiev’s bid to cause more economic damage. Moscow responded to Zelensky’s “40-day pressure campaign” by ramping up its own long-range strikes, leaving Ukraine effectively cut off from maritime trade.
On Tuesday, Zelensky reiterated his calls for a pause in hostilities in the Black Sea, claiming it would come as a relief for the entire world. Both nations are major exporters of wheat, a key food commodity.
A Türkiye-mediated agreement that ensured free shipping in the Black Sea and provided for inspections of incoming cargo ships to ensure that they were not carrying weapons existed in the early phase of the conflict. Moscow ultimately pulled out of the deal after accusing Kiev of using designated safe routes to launch naval kamikaze drones at Russian ports.