Odesa under attack: explosions from Russian drones, lead to emergency blackouts in the city
On the evening of March 20, 2025, the Russian army launched a massive drone attack on Odesa, according to Odesa Mayor Hennadyy Trukhanov, Air Force, Suspilne public media and Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak.
According to Trukhanov, explosions were heard in the city’s southern districts, and he warned of danger in the Kyivskyy District of the city.
The Air Force of Ukraine warned of the threat of drones from the Black Sea.
“Suspilne” correspondents reported that more than 15 explosions were heard in the city.
Yermak later reported that Russia is again attacking civilian infrastructure. He reports that there are casualties.
DTEK, a private energy company, reported local emergency power outages in Odesa’s Prymorskyy, Peresypskyy, and Kyivskyy Districts.
ZMINA consistently reports on the ongoing international crimes in the Odesa Oblast.
Ukraine’s Air Forces reported that since the evening of March 20, the Russians had attacked Ukraine with 214 Shahed attack UAVs and various types of decoy drones; 114 drones were destroyed, and 81 disappeared from radar. Eighty-one Russian decoy drones disappeared from radar.”
The Russian attack affected Odesa, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, and Kyiv oblasts.
The Russians launched their drones from the Russian cities of Kursk, Bryansk, Millerovo and Primorsko-Akhtarsk, as well as from Cape Chauda in temporarily occupied Crimea.
By way of background, the Russian Federation uses temporarily occupied Crimea as a military foothold for its military aggression from the south of Ukraine, shelling Ukrainian cities from the peninsula. Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly stated the importance of de-occupying the Crimean Peninsula.
President Volodymyr Zelensky told an EU summit that “nothing has changed”, saying Russia hit energy targets despite promising to stop these attacks.
On March 20, Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian officials will meet their US counterparts in Saudi Arabia next Monday after the Kremlin confirmed US-Russia talks there.
Speaking at a news conference, Zelensky rejected Russia’s conditions for a potential peace deal and said taking Ukraine’s Nato membership off the table is a “big gift to Russia”.
