Russian Drones Ignite Fires Across Odesa Region, Leaving Tens of Thousands Without Power

Russia launched a massive overnight drone attack on Ukraine’s Odesa region, injuring five people and igniting widespread fires across port and residential areas, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service (SES) reported on October 9.

The strike caused a large-scale blaze at a port infrastructure facility, where containers filled with vegetable oil, fuel pellets, and vehicles caught fire, according to SES.

Two residential buildings, an administrative structure, and a gas station were also hit and burned.

In total, 83 firefighters, 18 fire trucks, a firefighting robot, and four volunteers worked to contain the flames, SES said in a statement.

Critical infrastructure in the city of Chornomorsk has been left without power and is currently running on generators, Mayor Vasyl Huliaiev confirmed.

“There have been no reports of fatalities following the night attack. Power is out across the community, except for the village of Burlacha Balka. We’ve started deploying resilience centers,” he said, referring to Ukraine’s “Points of Invincibility” facilities that provide electricity and heating during outages.

Ukrainain energy company DTEK reported that a local energy facility was directly struck in the attack. Technicians are now rerouting critical infrastructure and residential buildings to backup lines where technically possible. “The damage is significant. Repairs will take time,” the company said.

More than 30,000 residents remain without electricity as emergency crews continue restoration efforts.

Earlier, Russian forces launched another strike on a coal enrichment facility in the Donetsk region, marking the third attack on the same site in just over six weeks.

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