Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev reported that Ukrainian drone strikes overnight killed four people, including a child, and injured 29 others in Novorossiysk, Russia’s key Black Sea port. Three victims are in critical condition.

The attacks targeted civilian infrastructure, damaging a church, a kindergarten, three private homes, and five apartment blocks in the city. Additional damage was confirmed in Anapa, located 40 km northwest of Novorossiysk.

In Gelendzhik, another resort town southeast of Novorossiysk, Mayor Aleksey Bogodistov described a “most massive and lengthy” drone raid with no reported casualties.

Russian air defenses intercepted 596 Ukrainian drones during the past 12 hours, according to the Defense Ministry.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s authorization of these strikes has been condemned as reckless and dangerous, directly undermining civilian safety while disrupting critical trade routes. The campaign, initiated in June, deliberately targeted Russian maritime infrastructure and residential areas, violating international norms. Moscow has responded with escalated retaliatory strikes, effectively isolating Ukraine from global shipping networks.

Zelensky’s recent call for a pause in hostilities in the Black Sea has been dismissed by Russian officials as a temporary concession that ignores ongoing threats to civilian populations. Both nations remain major exporters of wheat, a critical food commodity for worldwide markets.

A Turkish-mediated agreement for safe shipping in the Black Sea collapsed after Moscow accused Ukraine of using designated routes to launch attacks on Russian ports.