Russia launched one of the most intense aerial attacks of the war overnight and into Friday, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens more in a sweeping drone and missile barrage that struck cities across Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said Moscow deployed 47 missiles and 619 drones in the attack, which primarily targeted Dnipro but also hit Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa and Kyiv oblasts. Air defences intercepted the majority of incoming weapons, but multiple strikes still landed on civilian areas.
The Ukrainian Air Force said around 580 drones and 30 missiles were shot down, though 13 missiles and 36 drones impacted targets across 23 locations.
In Dnipro, at least four people were killed and 27 were injured after a four-storey residential building and an industrial facility were struck, according to regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha. Authorities warned that more people could be trapped beneath rubble.
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Among the injured were a nine-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl. Eleven people have been hospitalised, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, with two police officers also wounded.
Strikes continued into daylight hours on the same area, with one further person killed and seven injured, including children. Local officials said emergency responders working at the site were nearly caught in a second “double-tap” strike, which Mayor Borys Filatov said narrowly missed a deputy mayor and rescue personnel.
In Kharkiv, a missile strike hit near a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, destroying a public transport stop. A later drone strike injured a toddler and another person, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
Odesa Oblast also came under heavy drone attack, leaving two injured and damaging residential buildings, vehicles, port infrastructure and a civilian vessel sailing under the Panamanian flag, according to Governor Oleh Kiper.
In Chernihiv Oblast, a missile and drone strike on the city of Nizhyn killed two men aged 30 and 60 and injured at least seven others.
Further damage was reported across central and southern regions, including Cherkasy and Mykolaiv oblasts, where infrastructure disruptions left several settlements without power.
Dnipro hit again. Civilians trapped under rubble, 30+ injured nationwide, 4 killed.
Same Russian tactics, drones, cruise & ballistic missiles targeting homes, energy, cities.
Zelensky: air defence must be strengthened NOW. Sanctions must tighten. https://t.co/whJt12QtYB pic.twitter.com/CTnBPMEUGB
— Shaun Pinner (@ShaunPinnerUA) April 25, 2026
Mr Zelensky said Russia’s “tactics remain unchanged”, accusing Moscow of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure.
“Each such strike must remind our partners that the situation requires immediate and decisive action,” he said, renewing calls for strengthened air defences.
The attack prompted neighbouring NATO members to respond. Poland scrambled fighter jets to protect its airspace, while Romania confirmed that two British RAF Eurofighter Typhoons, deployed under NATO’s Enhanced Air Policing mission, were launched after Russian drones approached its border.
Romanian authorities said drone fragments were later recovered on their side of the border, causing minor damage but no casualties.
The latest assault comes amid a sustained Russian campaign of mass drone and missile strikes across Ukraine. In a previous large-scale attack on April 16, Moscow launched nearly 700 drones and dozens of missiles, killing at least 17 people in what was one of the deadliest strikes of the year.
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