Russian drones strike Ukrainian city of Odesa, underlining challenges for even limited truce

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones pummeled the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa, injuring three people and sparking massive fires, officials said Friday, an attack that underlined Moscow's intention to pursue aerial strikes even as it agreed to temporarily halt strikes on energy facilities.

The head of the Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, said the city suffered “local emergency power outages” in three of its districts, an indication that the energy infrastructure of the city could have been damaged.

Reacting to the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that "joint pressure on Russia, strengthening sanctions and defense support for our state ... is the way to stop such terror and Russia’s prolongation of the war."

“We expect real pressure on Russia from the U.S., Europe and all our partners,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram. “This is what will allow diplomacy to work.”

Russia, meanwhile, accused Ukraine of blowing up a gas facility in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have launched an incursion, in violation of the ceasefire deal. Ukraine denies the accusations.

The strike came shortly before Czech Republic President Petr Pavel visited Odesa on Friday morning, meeting with the city's leaders and officials from other southern regions.

“This is another reminder to the whole world: the war continues and Ukraine continues to fight,” Kiper said in a statement. He said there were blazes at at least three locations after the attack late Thursday.

“Civilian infrastructure, commercial facilities are on fire, cars damaged,” Kiper said.

Over 70 people and 20 fire engines were involved in extinguishing what the emergency services called “massive fires.”

Russia's Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of blowing up a gas metering station near the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region, in what it described as a “deliberate provocation by the Kyiv regime, which is part of a series of recent strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure in order to discredit the U.S. president’s peaceful initiatives.”

Ukraine’s military General Staff rejected Moscow’s accusations and blamed the Russian military for shelling the Sudzha gas metering station as part of Russia’s “discrediting campaign.”

The gas metering station serves a major pipeline that had pumped Russia's natural gas to Europe until supplies were halted last year.

Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders this week, though it remained to be seen what possible targets would be off limits to attack.

The three sides appeared to hold starkly different views about what the deal covered. While the White House said “energy and infrastructure” would be covered, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to “energy infrastructure.” Zelenskyy said he would also like railways and ports to be protected.

Zelenskyy told reporters after Wednesday's call with Trump that “technical” talks in Saudi Arabia this weekend would seek to resolve what types of infrastructure would be protected from attack under the agreement.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine and U.S. negotiators will discuss technical details related to the partial ceasefire during a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday. Russian negotiators are set to hold separate talks with U.S. officials there.

I can’t tell you how the meeting will end,” Zelenskyy said, speaking talking with the Czech leader. “It will be good if the meeting ends with a result that brings us closer to a full ceasefire”

Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine is open to a full, 30-day ceasefire that Trump has proposed, saying “we will not be against any format, any steps toward unconditional ceasefire.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a complete ceasefire conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of Ukraine's military mobilization — demands rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized Friday that the agreement reached between Trump and Putin referred only to energy facilities, adding that the Russian military is fulfilling Putin’s order to halt such attacks for 30 days.

“The Russian military are currently refraining from strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in accordance with the agreement reached between Russia and the United States,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

In another attack, Russian glide bombs injured at least six people, including a child, in the Zaporizhzhia region overnight Thursday to Friday. Regional head Ivan Fedorov published photos showing fire fighters extinguishing flames at multiple damaged residential buildings.

The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired 214 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks. It said 114 of them were intercepted and another 81 were jammed.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 43 Ukrainian drones, 34 of them over the Volgograd region and others over Rostov, Kursk and Belgorod regions. The authorities didn’t report any casualties or significant damage.

Meanwhile, a massive blaze at an oil depot in the Krasnodar region has continued to rage since it was hit by a Ukrainian drone attack late Wednesday.

Associated Press writer Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Czech Rebublic's President Petr Pavel arrive for a joint press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Czech Rebublic's President Petr Pavel speak during joint press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Czech Rebublic's President Petr Pavel shake hands during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Czech Rebublic's President Petr Pavel speak during joint press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Czech Rebublic's President Petr Pavel arrive for a joint press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky).

Municipal workers clean up after Russian drones hit shops during the night attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Shtekel)

Municipal workers clean up after Russian drones hit shops during the night attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Shtekel)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire at a storehouse following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Municipal workers clean up after Russian drones hit shops during the night attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Shtekel)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire at a storehouse following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire at a storehouse following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, March 21, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Three people died and 14 others were injured after an altercation broke out Friday at a park in the desert city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, police said Saturday.

Police and fire crews arrived at just after 10 p.m. Friday onto a chaotic scene at the city's Young Park, where an unauthorized car show had drawn about 200 people, police said during a news conference. Gunshot victims ranging in age from 16 to 36 were treated on the scene or sent to area hospitals.

Between 50 and 60 shell casings — all from handguns — were found scattered across a wide swath of the large park, Police Chief Jeremy Strong said, suggesting multiple shooters and multiple weapons within the two opposing groups. Several others were injured in the crossfire, he said.

Those who died were two 19-year-old men and a 16-year-old boy. Their names and those of the other victims were not yet being released. Local police were being assisted in their investigation by New Mexico State Police, the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Las Cruces Fire Chief Michael Daniels said seven patients were treated at the scene, including two who died, and 11 others were sent to three local hospitals or to University Medical Center of El Paso, the regional trauma center. By Saturday, seven of the surviving victims were in El Paso, while four others had been treated and released and the four remaining victims' conditions were not known, he said.

Authorities continued to solicit videos and other tips from those in attendance as they worked to identify a suspect or suspects who carried out the attack.

“This horrendous, senseless act is a stark reminder of the blatant disregard people in New Mexico have for the rule of law and order,” Strong said, vowing about the perpetrators to “find each and every one of them, and we will. We will hold them accountable to the criminal justice system.”

In a post to Instagram on Saturday, Las Cruces City Councilor and Mayor Pro Tem Johana Bencomo expressed grief at the tragedy.

“Part of me wanted to write that this is something you never really think this is going to happen in your city, but that actually feels deeply untrue,” she wrote. “Honestly now days a tragedy like this feels like a nightmare just waiting to come true at any possible moment, yet also always praying and hoping it never will.”

Las Cruces sits on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert along the Rio Grande River in southern New Mexico, about 41 miles (66 kilometers) north of the U.S.-Mexican border.

The department was still on scene Saturday and the area around the park was closed to traffic, according to local media reports.

“This is a huge crime scene with a lot of moving parts,” he said. “It will take time to process it thoroughly and reopen everything.”

The shootings cast a pall over efforts by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the state Legislature to find effective solutions to persistently high crime rates and concerns about gun violence.

Lujan Grisham recently signed off on a package of enhanced penalties for vehicle theft, fentanyl trafficking, school-shooting threats – along with a ban on devices that convert guns to automatic weapons. Legislators passed an overhaul of the state’s red-flag gun law that can temporarily remove firearms from people who may be a danger, and bolstered funding for addiction and mental health treatment.

But the governor also said this week she was “appalled” by progress on juvenile justice reforms, as time ran out on a 60-day legislative session on Saturday at noon.

AP Reporter Morgan Lee in Santa Fe contributed to this report.

Crime scene technicians look over the Young Park parking lot after a mass shooting overnight, Saturday, March 22, 2025 in Las Cruces, N.M. (Justin Garcia/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)