Drone strike sparks fires at Russian Black Sea port ahead of fresh US-brokered talks

A Ukrainian long-range drone strike triggered fires at a Russian Black Sea port on Sunday, officials said, as diplomatic efforts intensified ahead of a new round of US-brokered peace talks aimed at ending the nearly four-year-old war.

Authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar region said the attack targeted the port of Taman, injuring two people and damaging an oil storage tank, a warehouse and port terminals. Regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said emergency services brought the blaze under control after the strike.

At the same time, Ukrainian officials reported that falling debris from Russian drones hit civilian and transport infrastructure in the Odesa region, disrupting power and water supplies in parts of southern Ukraine.

Kyiv has increasingly used long-range drones to strike Russian energy and export facilities, arguing that the attacks are intended to reduce Moscow’s oil revenue and weaken its ability to sustain the invasion. Russia, meanwhile, has continued aerial assaults on Ukrainian energy networks, which Ukrainian authorities say are aimed at denying civilians heat, electricity and running water during winter months.

The exchange of strikes came days before another round of negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian envoys scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva, just ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on 22 February.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said key questions remained over future security guarantees for Kyiv. Zelenskyy also raised concerns about a proposed US-backed free-trade framework linked to the Donbas region, large parts of which remain under Russian control.

According to Zelenskyy, Washington is pushing for a rapid settlement and hopes to finalise multiple agreements simultaneously, while Ukraine insists that binding security guarantees must be signed first before any broader political arrangements.

Similar concerns were voiced by Jeanne Shaheen, a senior member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who warned that any peace deal lacking credible security assurances could leave the region vulnerable to renewed conflict.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia appeared to be seeking diplomatic gains that it had failed to achieve militarily and suggested Moscow was relying on US mediation to secure concessions at the negotiating table. She added that key Russian demands — including sanctions relief and the unfreezing of assets — would ultimately be decisions for European governments.

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

Earlier US-led attempts to broker consensus have struggled to overcome deep disagreements, particularly over the future of Ukraine’s Donbas industrial region, much of which remains occupied by Russian forces. Two previous rounds of talks held in Abu Dhabi failed to produce a breakthrough, leaving negotiators to confront unresolved issues as the war approaches its fourth year.