Ukrainian drone strike sparks fires at Russian Black Sea port ahead of
US-brokered peace talks
[February 16, 2026]
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 4-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.”
The attacks came ahead of another round of U.S.-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
neighbor on Feb. 24.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday,
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested there were still
questions remaining over future security guarantees for his country.
Zelenskyy also questioned how the concept of a free trade zone —
proposed by the U.S. — would work in the Donbas region, which Russia
insists Kyiv must give up for peace.
He said the Americans want peace as quickly as possible and that the
U.S. team wants to sign all the agreements on Ukraine at the same time,
whereas Ukraine wants guarantees for the country’s future security
signed first.
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the audience
during a session at the Munich Security Conference in Munich,
Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Zelenskyy’s concerns were echoed by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a ranking
member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Unless we have real security guarantees on whatever peace agreement
is ultimately determined, we are going to be here again, because one
of the things we know is that Russia has geared up not just for
Ukraine, but to go beyond Ukraine,” she told reporters in Munich on
Sunday.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia was
hoping to win diplomatically what it had failed to achieve on the
battlefield, and was banking on the U.S. to deliver concessions at
the negotiating table. But Kallas told the Munich conference Sunday
that key Russian demands — including the lifting of sanctions and
unfreezing of assets — were decisions for Europe.
“If we want a sustainable peace then we need concessions also from
the Russian side,” she said.
Previous U.S.-led efforts to find consensus on ending the war, most
recently two rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United
Arab Emirates, have failed to resolve difficult issues, such as the
future of Ukraine’s Donbas industrial heartland that is largely
occupied by Russian forces.
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