Russian Drone Attacks Kill Thirteen in Ukraine After US-Brokered Ceasefire Expires
A recent surge in Russian drone and bomb attacks across Ukraine has resulted in 13 fatalities and at least 41 injuries. The assaults, which took place between Tuesday and Wednesday, followed the expiration of a US-brokered ceasefire that concluded on Monday evening.
The Dnipropetrovsk region was the worst affected, reporting eight deaths and 11 injuries on Tuesday alone. One casualty was also confirmed in the Donetsk region the same day. Subsequent attacks on Wednesday led to three deaths in the Rivne region and one in Zaporizhzhia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Russia launched 800 drones and warned of potential follow-up missile strikes. Concurrently, Russian officials reported Ukrainian drones hitting three industrial facilities overnight, with no casualties.
The ceasefire, intended to provide a brief respite, saw both sides report numerous violations, primarily along the extensive frontline, though no major aerial attacks were recorded during that period. Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional administration, stated on Telegram that more than 30 Russian attacks targeted three districts on Tuesday, damaging over two dozen houses. He specifically noted two deaths in Kryvyi Rih and six in the Synelnykove district.
In the Kharkiv region, five people were injured and several residential buildings sustained damage. Drone strikes were also reported in Odesa, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Poltava. President Zelensky, writing on Telegram, stated 14 Ukrainian regions were attacked on Tuesday, with further overnight assaults, accusing Russia of deliberately targeting railway infrastructure and other civilian sites.
Ukraine's air force reported 139 drones launched by Russia in 24 hours, with 111 intercepted but 20 direct hits recorded across 13 locations. Ukraine's Hur military intelligence warned that these strikes could be protracted, suggesting Russia is using a significant number of drones to overwhelm air defences before potential massive missile strikes.
Separately, the Russian defence ministry claimed 286 Ukrainian drones were intercepted since Tuesday evening over 14 Russian regions and Crimea. The governor of Astrakhan, Igor Babushkin, reported drone debris triggered a fire at a gas processing plant, though he assured no threat of air pollution. Local officials in the Krasnodar region and Yaroslavl also confirmed damage to industrial facilities from Ukrainian overnight attacks. Kyiv maintains that such strikes on Russian energy infrastructure are legitimate targets, as these facilities support Moscow's war efforts.
