Russia Starts the Year With Drone Strikes on Odesa and Volyn Regions

Russia ushered in the New Year with a renewed wave of drone attacks on Ukraine, striking the southern port city of Odesa and the western Volyn region.

The Gaze informs about it, referring to Ukrainian officials.

Russian forces launched several waves of strike drones overnight, including Iranian-designed Shahed UAVs, targeting civilian and critical infrastructure. In Odesa, falling drones and debris caused multiple fires and damaged residential buildings, prompting large-scale emergency responses across the city.

“The enemy ‘congratulated’ Odesa with several waves of attack drones,” Serhii Lysak, head of the city’s military administration, said. Firefighters, bomb disposal units, and municipal services worked through repeated air raid alerts, extinguishing all blazes by morning. No casualties were immediately reported.

In western Ukraine, air defenses were activated as drones approached the Volyn region, with explosions reported in Lutsk and Kovel. Ukrainian officials said some drones were intercepted, but others struck infrastructure targets, igniting large fires.

“This is how our city begins the New Year – with flames instead of festive lights,” Lutsk Mayor Ihor Polishchuk wrote, publishing images of a major overnight blaze.

Firefighting and recovery operations continued into the morning hours. The regional power utility informed that more than 103,000 households were left without electricity. Authorities said there were no confirmed reports of deaths or injuries.

As The Gaze reported earlier, a Russian strike drone hit a critical infrastructure facility in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa early on December 26.

In general, over the course of 2025, Russia launched more than 100,000 drones, around 2,400 missiles of various types, and over 60,000 guided aerial bombs in Ukraine.