Outside the Kadorr apartment complex in Ukraine’s Black Sea city of Odesa, about 500 metres from the seafront, residents and rescue workers mill around in freezing temperatures. I didn’t hear the explosion but I heard another Russian Shahed drone that was extremely loud. Russian strikes against Odesa have escalated sharply in recent months, as conflict centred on the Black Sea has heated up again after it had settled into stalemate. “Right now the situation in the Black Sea is like a chess board. We’ve pushed the Russian warships away to Novorossiysk, but Russian aviation still controls the air over large parts of the Black Sea.

Source: The Guardian January 28, 2026 06:30 UTC