The Odessa bombings are not the first to take place outside the battlegrounds of Donetsk and Luhansk. Over the past months, Kharkiv and Mariupol have also been bombed, with Russia-backed forces using explosives to target infrastructure, especially railway bridges, during the active fighting of the summer months. However, the frequency of attacks has increased in Odessa. Of the nine bombings in the city, seven have taken place since the beginning of December. The higher rate is notable because Odessa is more than 700 kilometers (435 miles) away from the separatist-held city of Donetsk, and the vast majority of the city's residents do not heavily support Russia, despite their ambivalence toward the Ukrainian government. For much of its history, Odessa has been a strategic port city . Catherine the Great issued an edict in 1794 to found the city with the hope that it would become a commercial hub.