Odesa

In June 2026, Odesa was included in a wave of Russian Shahed drone attacks: on 11 June, Russia launched 85 drones against Kharkiv, Donetsk and Odesa, wounding 60 people in Kharkiv Oblast before the larger 14-15 June barrage. Odesa also saw a single day of anti-corruption protest on 16 July 2026, the opening day of a three-day wave centred on Kyiv, Lviv and Dnipro, sparked by Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov's dismissal; crowds did not return on the second or third day, and chants of 'Corruption kills' and 'Syrsky out' aimed past Fedorov at Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Odesa is Ukraine's principal seaport, situated on the north-western coast of the Black Sea. With a pre-war population of around one million, it is Ukraine's third-largest city and the main gateway for Ukrainian grain and agricultural exports. Its port infrastructure has been a recurring Russian target since the 2022 invasion, both as an economic target and because Odesa Oblast borders Moldova's Transnistria region, a Russian-controlled enclave that has figured in Russian strategic calculations. Odesa has experienced repeated Russian drone and missile strikes across the war, with port silos, fuel depots and residential districts all sustaining damage.

The city's ethnic composition and cultural history, long a mix of Ukrainian, Russian, Jewish and Greek influences, has made it a symbolic battleground in Russian information operations, with Moscow historically claiming it as a culturally Russian city. Ukraine has dismissed those claims and invested heavily in Odesa's air-defence coverage. Ukraine's Black Sea grain corridor, established with Turkish Mediation and later abandoned by Russia, had previously passed through Odesa's port infrastructure.