Photography and video by Serhii Korovayny for WSJ | Text by Anastasiia Malenko

ODESA, Ukraine -- The largest aerial bombing campaign in Europe since World War II is pummeling Odesa, Ukraine's economic powerhouse and a cultural capital known for its thumping nightlife and Baroque opera house.

In a series of deadly drone and missile strikes this week, Russia hit grain silos, port infrastructure and commercial vessels here, ratcheting up a yearslong campaign to sever Ukraine's access to global markets and suffocate the country's ability to sustain its population in wartime.

Russian President Vladimir Putin insists Odesa is integral to Russia, but the Black Sea city has resisted all attempts to drag it into his orbit. Ukraine broke the Russian blockade of Odesa's port in late 2023, using cutting-edge sea drones and missiles to drive back Moscow's feared Black Sea Fleet. Since then, it has maintained exports of grain and sunflower oil and kept its beach resorts functioning.

Russia's attacks this week form the latest chapter in the campaign to convince Odesans to surrender. They aren't buckling.

On the city's beach resorts, at its port and in its businesses, civilians are thumbing their noses at Putin and refusing to be cowed by Russia's aerial onslaught.

Heham Hryhorian, who runs a resort in the region, said it felt like a horror movie after the 2022 invasion emptied out the hotels, bars and restaurants here. In 2024, visitors started a tentative return.

"They just wanted to relax," Hryhorian said.

This year, despite the attacks, he expects an even bigger turnout as the population brushes off Russia's unyielding assaults.

"We're not losing heart, and nothing can scare us," he said. "The 2026 season is on."

The Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014 forced Ukraine's premier naval training college, the Bezkorovainiy Naval Lyceum, to relocate to Odesa. Illia Bardetskiy, 17, planned to learn how to operate coastal missile systems after graduation.

"My biggest dream is to serve on the ship," Bardetskiy said. "Maybe after the war ends, after we win, my dream will come true." Naval warfare means the most junior recruits aren't able to sail at the moment.

Capturing Odesa would also give Moscow an expanded perch from which to project power across the Black Sea, one of the most strategically located bodies of water in the world.

Those standing in the Kremlin's way include fighters in the "Nobody" combat group, part of Ukraine's defense intelligence corps that helps maintain control of Snake Island, the small but strategic outcrop in the northwest of the Black Sea that Ukraine recaptured from Russia in the summer of 2022.

"This is Ukraine's Black Sea," said an officer in the elite combat force, who goes by the call sign Ned. "Why should we give it up?"

Concrete tetrapods were installed at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion to prevent a potential landing and remain lined up along the shore.

After Ukraine pushed the Russian Black Sea Fleet away from its coastline using naval drones and missiles, the immediate threat of a landing operation diminished, but the fortifications are still in place.

Odesa funnels billions of dollars in agricultural products to the global market each year and possesses a wealth of Italianate architectural treasures, assets that make the city, founded by a Russian empress, a tantalizing target for the Kremlin.

The city's civilian infrastructure, homes and energy sites have come under repeated Russian attack in a strategy Moscow has deployed across the country in its attempt to break the Ukrainians' will.

Stanislav Shatrov, who manages a logistics company here, remains defiant despite strikes that have left his offices with windows boarded up and doors blown out.

Vitalii Vyshnevskiy, an engineer with DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, was called this spring to attend the aftermath of a strike on one of Odesa's substations.

"The destruction is very significant," said Vyshnevskiy, who left home at 4:30 a.m. and worked under threat of a repeat attack. "We will do it, we will restore it, but it takes time and patience. And people now, well, they are losing their patience."

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 19, 2026 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.