KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile attack on port infrastructure in Odessa in southern Ukraine killed eight people and wounded 27 others, Ukraine’s emergency service said Saturday, as the Kremlin’s envoy was scheduled to travel to Florida for talks on a U.S.-proposed plan to end the nearly four-year-old war.
The discussions are part of the Trump administration’s months-long push for peace that also included meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin earlier this week. Ukraine’s chief negotiator said late Friday that his delegation had completed separate meetings in the United States with American and European partners.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that much will depend on the American position after discussions with the Russians.
Speaking at a press conference in Kiev with Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, Zelensky said, “The main question remains how the United States responds after consulting with the Russians. At this point, I honestly don’t know, but I will find out later today.”
Zelensky said that Ukraine and Portugal signed an agreement to establish joint production of sea drones. “This is one of the most promising areas of defense cooperation,” he said. “What matters now is achieving results, and all parts of Europe must have sufficient capabilities to confront any threats.”
Ukraine targets a Russian oil platform and a patrol ship
The emergency service said in a post on the Telegram app that some of those injured in Odessa were on a bus at the center of the attack late on Friday. Trucks caught fire in the parking lot and cars were also damaged.
Oleh Kiper, head of the Odessa region, said the port was bombed by ballistic missiles.
Moscow did not immediately acknowledge reports of the attack. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that it had bombed the previous day “transport and storage infrastructure used by the Ukrainian armed forces,” along with energy facilities and those supplying the war effort in Kiev.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian drones struck a Russian oil platform, military patrol ship Okhotnik and other facilities, the Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement on Saturday. She added that the ship was patrolling in the Caspian Sea near an oil and gas production platform. She added that the extent of the damage is still being clarified.
It also hit the drilling rig at the Vilanovsky oil and gas field. The facility is run by the Russian oil giant Lukoil. Ukrainian drones also struck a radar system in the Krasnoselsky District of Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
There was no immediate comment from the Russian government or Lukoil. The company is one of two major Russian oil companies – along with state-owned Gazprom – targeted by recent US sanctions aimed at depriving Moscow of oil export revenues that help it prosecute the war.
Kiev has used similar arguments to justify months of long-range strikes on Russia’s oil infrastructure, which it says directly finance and fuel the Kremlin’s all-out invasion, which will soon enter its fifth year.
Trump’s peace efforts are scheduled to continue on Saturday
US President Donald Trump has launched a wide-ranging diplomatic campaign to end the war, but his efforts have faced sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kiev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently indicated that he is sticking to his maximum demands from Ukraine, even as Russian forces advance on the battlefield despite heavy casualties.
On Friday, Putin expressed confidence that the Kremlin would achieve its goals militarily if Kiev did not agree to Russian conditions in the peace talks.
European Union leaders agreed on Friday to provide 90 billion euros ($106 billion) to Ukraine for its military and economic needs for the next two years, despite failing to settle disputes with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise funds. Instead, they were borrowed from the capital markets.
After nearly four years of war, the International Monetary Fund estimates that Ukraine will need 137 billion euros (161 billion US dollars) in 2026 and 2027. The government in Kiev is on the verge of bankruptcy, and is in desperate need of funds by spring.
Meanwhile, Kirill Dmitriev, who heads Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, is scheduled to meet with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Miami on Saturday, according to a US official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the meeting, which has not yet been announced publicly.
The official said that Witkov and Kushner will sit down with Dmitriev, after meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin for talks on US security guarantees for Kiev, territorial concessions and other aspects of the plan drawn up by the United States.
Chief Ukrainian negotiator Rustam Umarov said late Friday that a Ukrainian delegation met with American and European partners in the United States. He provided few details, but said they agreed to continue “joint work in the near future.”
In response to a question about the meeting in Miami, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Moscow is preparing to make contacts with the United States to learn about the results of the meetings in Berlin, but he did not provide details.
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Ilya Novikov in Kiev, Ukraine, contributed to this report.