Russian drone strike in Odesa killed 9 and injured 8, including infants
This fact-check may be outdated. Consider refreshing it to get the most current information.
Executive summary
Local and regional Ukrainian authorities report multiple Russian drone and missile strikes on Odesa in early–mid December 2025 that damaged energy infrastructure, sparked fires and caused civilian casualties; accounts in the provided reporting show injured civilians ranging from six to seven in the Dec. 4 strikes and at least one killed or injured in other attacks on Dec. 11–12 [1] [2] [3]. None of the supplied sources explicitly state “9 killed and 8 injured, including infants” from a single Odesa strike—available sources do not mention that specific casualty total (not found in current reporting).
1. What the reporting actually says: energy sites, fires and scattered casualties
Multiple news outlets and local officials describe a pattern of Russian night-time drone attacks hitting Odesa’s energy facilities and nearby civilian buildings in early December 2025, producing fires, windows blown out, tram disruption and power outages; the State Emergency Service and regional governor Oleh Kiper are repeatedly cited [2] [4] [5]. For the Dec. 4 incident, Euromaidan Press and Kyiv Post report seven injured or six injured (different tallies) after a drone strike on an energy facility that caused a fire and damage to nearby high‑rises and cars [2] [1]. Separate reporting around Dec. 11–12 describes further drone strikes that damaged energy infrastructure and left some settlements without electricity; Kyiv Post and Ukrinform report one death in the wider wave of strikes and various injured counts in different incidents [3] [5].
2. Conflicting tallies and why numbers differ
The sources show inconsistent casualty numbers across outlets: Kyiv Post quotes Odesa authorities saying “preliminarily, six people were injured” after one strike while Euromaidan Press cites seven injured from the Dec. 4 strike [1] [2]. UA.NEWS relays an emergency‑service message that in one attack “there are no dead or injured,” while other pieces report at least one killed in related strikes [6] [3]. These discrepancies reflect reporting from different moments in emergency response, separate strikes on different nights, and varying reliance on regional Telegram posts or official briefings [1] [4] [6].
3. No source in this set supports “9 killed and 8 injured, including infants”
The precise figure you asked about—nine dead and eight wounded including infants from a Russian drone strike in Odesa—does not appear in the supplied materials. The available items either give lower injury counts for specific Dec. 4 strikes (six or seven injured) or report one fatality in the broader set of attacks around Dec. 11–12; none of these match the 9/8 total or mention infants among those numbers [2] [1] [3].
4. How to interpret Telegram, regional and Western outlets here
Much of the on‑the‑ground information comes from the Odesa Regional Military Administration’s Telegram channel and the State Emergency Service, which local and regional outlets quote directly [4] [2]. International outlets such as Reuters provide imagery and corroboration of incidents but do not supply a consolidated casualty summary in these snippets [7]. Readers should note that regional Telegram posts are rapid and useful for early tallies but are often updated; downstream reporting can freeze different versions of numbers at different times [4] [2].
5. Broader context: campaign to damage Ukraine’s winter infrastructure
Several sources frame these strikes as part of a wider campaign targeting electricity generation, distribution and other civilian infrastructure across regions in early December, with the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy warning of coordinated strikes against power systems [8]. Ukrainian officials and local media say these attacks repeatedly aim to disrupt energy and transport services as winter deepens, an operational pattern noted across multiple regions in the supplied reporting [9] [10].
6. What remains unclear and what to check next
The supplied reporting does not provide a single, definitive casualty breakdown that matches the figure you cited, nor does it identify infants among specific casualty lists—available sources do not mention that precise breakdown (not found in current reporting). To resolve this, consult the latest official statements from the Odesa Regional Administration, the State Emergency Service, or international wire services for consolidated casualty totals and any later corrections; also compare timestamps, because counts often change as rescue teams finish search and identification [1] [2] [7].
Limitations: this analysis is confined to the supplied search results and quotes only those sources; other reporting outside this set may corroborate different casualty numbers but is not available here.