Ukraine hits major oil terminal in Crimea as Russia advances in Donetsk

Ukraine launched a significant strike overnight on a key oil terminal in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, while Moscow announced the capture of another village in eastern Ukraine, marking the latest developments in a conflict now into its third year.

The Ukrainian military reported the attack early Monday, targeting the Feodosia oil terminal, one of the largest in Crimea. The terminal serves as a vital node in Russia’s logistical chain, supplying fuel to Russian forces. Ukrainian officials confirmed the strike through a social media post, stating, “At night, a successful strike was carried out on the enemy’s offshore oil terminal in temporarily occupied Feodosia, Crimea.”

The attack is part of a broader Ukrainian strategy to cripple Russia’s energy infrastructure, which Kyiv says is central to Moscow’s war efforts. In recent months, Ukrainian forces have ramped up attacks on Russian energy assets, aiming to undercut the revenues funding Moscow’s military operations.

Local authorities in Crimea, appointed by Russia, reported a fire at the oil facility but did not report any casualties. “There were no injuries,” they stated, though the scale of damage remains unclear. Russia also claimed that 12 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Crimea during the same night, out of 21 deployed by Kyiv.

Escalation in Crimea amid broader Ukrainian strategy

The Feodosia terminal has been a critical target in Ukraine’s recent push to hit Russia’s energy infrastructure. “The Feodosia terminal is the largest in Crimea in terms of transshipment of oil products, which were used, among other things, to meet the needs of the Russian occupation army,” Ukraine’s military said, pledging to continue such operations.

Kyiv has framed these attacks as a direct response to Russia’s relentless strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, which have left millions without power during critical moments of the war.

Russian forces push further in Donetsk

While Ukraine presses its aerial assaults on energy targets, Russia continues its ground offensive in eastern Ukraine. Moscow’s defense ministry announced Monday that Russian troops had captured the village of Grodivka in the Donetsk region, a step closer to the city of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub.

“Russian forces have secured the settlement of Grodivka,” the ministry said in a briefing. With a pre-war population of around 2,000, the village is among several towns in the Donetsk region to fall to Russian forces in recent weeks. The advance brings Moscow closer to its goal of taking Pokrovsk, a strategically important city in the east.

This comes just days after Ukrainian forces withdrew from Vugledar, a mining town also in Donetsk, marking one of Russia’s most notable territorial gains in weeks.

Civilian areas targeted in deadly Russian attacks

Meanwhile, Russian attacks on Monday led to the deaths of at least five civilians across Ukraine, according to local officials. In the port city of Odesa, a Russian ballistic missile struck a civilian cargo ship flying the Palauan flag. “The enemy hit a civilian ship…with a ballistic missile,” said Odesa regional governor Oleg Kiper. A 60-year-old Ukrainian working for a private cargo company was killed in the strike, and five foreign nationals were injured.

The attack on the vessel is the second in recent days to hit civilian shipping in Odesa, underscoring growing concerns over the safety of vessels in the Black Sea.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, additional casualties were reported. In the eastern Sumy region, two brothers aged 35 and 38 were killed in a Russian attack, while a 61-year-old woman died in shelling in the southern Kherson region.

Kherson city itself saw 19 people injured in a strike that damaged residential buildings and an educational facility. In Sloviansk, a city in northern Donetsk, a Russian attack killed one person and injured seven others, including two children, aged two and 13.

Ukraine’s air force also confirmed that Russian forces launched missiles and drones overnight, targeting Kyiv and other areas. Two missiles were shot down over the capital, with debris landing near a kindergarten. A third missile hit near an airfield in the Khmelnytsky region, though no major damage was reported.