Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow and Kyiv trade deadly strikes ahead of US-backed peace talks

A Ukrainian drone strike ignited fires at one of Russia's Black Sea ports, officials said Sunday, ahead of fresh talks aimed at ending the nearly four-year-old war.

Two people were wounded in the attack on the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, which damaged an oil storage tank, warehouse and terminals, according to regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev.

Meanwhile, falling debris from Russian drones damaged civilian and transport infrastructure in Ukraine's Odesa region, officials said, causing disruption to the power and water supply.

Ukraine's long-range drone strikes on Russian energy sites aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to "weaponize winter."

New sanctions against Moscow could follow from Britain and its allies blaming the Kremlin for poisoning Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper has suggested.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Ms Cooper hit back at the Russians, insisting the accusation was “deeply serious”.

She added: “The statement that we made yesterday shows that we have the evidence.”

“We continue to look at co-ordinated action, including increasing sanctions on the Russian regime,” she added.

“As you know, we have been pursuing this as part of our response to the brutal invasion of Ukraine, where we are also coming up to the fourth anniversary of that invasion as well.”

A magnitude 6 ⁠earthquake struck in waters ⁠off ​Russia's ⁠Kuril ⁠Islands ​on ⁠Sunday, ‌the German Research Centre ‌for Geosciences (GFZ) ‌said. The ⁠quake was at a depth of ‌10 ​km (6.21 ‌miles), ⁠GFZ ⁠said.

Marco Rubio said said a report by five European allies blaming Russia for killing late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny using toxin from poison dart frogs was “troubling”, adding that Washington had no reason to question it.

"We obviously are aware of the report. It's a troubling report. We're aware of that case of Mr. Navalny and certainly... we don't have any reason to question it," the US secretary of state told reporters on Sunday at a news conference in Bratislava during a visit to Slovakia.

In a joint statement, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands on Saturday said analyses of samples from Navalny's body "conclusively" confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia.

After the findings were announced by Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper pinned the blame squarely on the Kremlin and said only Russia had the “means, motive and opportunity” to carry out such an attack. The Kremlin has rejected the claims

A Ukrainian drone strike ignited fires at one of Russia's Black Sea ports, officials said on Sunday, ahead of fresh talks aimed at ending the nearly four-year-old war.

Two people were injured in the attack on the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, which damaged an oil storage tank, warehouse and terminals, according to regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev.

Meanwhile, falling debris from Russian drones damaged civilian and transport infrastructure in Ukraine's Odesa region, officials said, causing disruption to the power and water supply.

Ukraine's long-range drone strikes on Russian energy sites aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion.

Russia, meanwhile, wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to "weaponise winter".

The latest attacks came ahead of another round of US-brokered talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva, just before the fourth anniversary of the all-out Russian invasion of its neighbour on February 22.