Ukrainian authorities said Sunday that a drone strike caused fires at one of Russia's Black Sea ports, ahead of new talks this week aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.
"An oil terminal in southern Russia and the Pantsir-S1 air defense system in the occupied territory of Crimea have been hit," the Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement.
According to regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev, two people were injured in the attack on the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, which damaged an oil tank, a warehouse and terminals, the Telegraph reports.
In the latest Russian attacks, officials in Ukraine's Odessa region reported that debris falling from Moscow's drones damaged civilian and transport infrastructure, causing power and water supply disruptions, while two women were reportedly injured in an airstrike with guided bombs in Zaporizhzhia District.
The latest flare-ups in fighting between the two sides come ahead of another round of US-brokered talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva.
This also comes ahead of the fourth anniversary of the full Russian occupation of its neighbor, which began on February 24, 2022.
Ukrainian authorities say their long-range drone attacks on Russian energy facilities are aimed at denying Moscow the money it needs from oil exports to carry out its full-scale invasion.
Their attacks are also seen as a response to Russia's massive attacks to destroy the Ukrainian electricity grid, in order to prevent citizens from having access to running water, heating or light.
On Sunday, Ukrainian officials said that over 1,600 buildings in Kiev were still without heat after a spate of Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, which have also killed dozens of civilians and workers.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested there were still questions over future security guarantees for his country.
His concerns were echoed by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"If we don't have real security guarantees for whatever peace agreement is ultimately determined, we will be here again, because one of the things we know is that Russia is prepared not just for Ukraine, but to go beyond Ukraine," she told reporters in Munich on Sunday.
Zelensky also questioned how the concept of a free trade zone - proposed by the US - would work in the Donbas region, which Russia insists Kiev must abandon for peace.
He said that Americans want peace as soon as possible and that the American team wants to sign all agreements for Ukraine at the same time, while Ukraine wants guarantees for the country's future security signed first.
Meanwhile, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, warned on Sunday that Russia was hoping to gain diplomatically what it had failed to achieve on the battlefield and was relying on the US to offer concessions at the negotiating table.
Kallas told the Munich conference that the main Russian demands - including the lifting of sanctions and the unblocking of assets - were decisions for Europe.
"If we want a lasting peace, then we need concessions from the Russian side as well," she said.
Previous US-led efforts to reach a deal to end the war, including two rounds of negotiations in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, have failed to resolve complex issues, including what to do with Ukraine's industrial heartland, Donbas, large parts of which are controlled by Russian forces.
