Russia and Ukraine engaged in aerial attacks overnight, leading to the deaths of two individuals in each country, with numerous injuries reported on both sides, according to official sources. The situation underscores the ongoing violence in the region as military operations continue unabated.
On the battlefield, the Russian military announced on Saturday the seizure of the village of Zelenyi Hai in the eastern Donetsk region, which Moscow has illegally annexed but only partially controls. Additionally, the village of Maliivka in the Dnipro region was reportedly captured. Ukrainian officials have not yet commented on these claims.
Ukrainian regions such as Dnipro and northeastern Sumy were subjected to combined rocket and drone attacks, local officials reported. Serhii Lysak, the head of Dnipro's regional administration, stated that at least two people died, and five others were wounded due to the rocket barrage. A multi-story building and a business in Dnipro were damaged, while a shopping center outside the city caught fire. In Sumy, the military administration reported three injuries, as Russian drones targeted a central square and damaged the regional administration building.
Kharkiv faced heavy aerial bombardment overnight, with Ukraine’s State Emergency Situations Service reporting six injuries, including four rescuers who were wounded in a double-tap strike, where a second attack targets emergency responders assisting victims of the initial attack. The Russian military targeted Ukraine with 208 drones and 27 missiles overnight, according to a daily air force report. Preliminary data indicated that air defense systems and electronic warfare managed to down or intercept 183 drones and 17 missiles, although strikes from 10 missiles and 25 drones were recorded in nine locations.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed on Saturday that it successfully struck military facilities in Ukraine responsible for manufacturing missile components, ammunition, and explosives. However, this assertion could not be independently verified. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded with an online statement emphasizing that there can be no silence in the face of such attacks and that Ukrainian long-range drones are a crucial response. He insisted that Russian military enterprises and logistics must feel the repercussions of their actions in the ongoing conflict.
In a reciprocal move, Ukrainian drones allegedly targeted multiple regions in Russia overnight. In the Rostov region on the border with Ukraine, a drone attack resulted in two fatalities, as reported by acting governor Yuri Slyusar. The neighboring Stavropol region also experienced drone strikes, hitting an unspecified industrial facility, prompting a brief fire. Governor Vladimir Vladimirov announced on Telegram that cellphone internet services were restricted due to the attack, a measure frequently implemented across Russia to curb online dissent and promote censorship.
Unverified reports have emerged, suggesting that videos posted by local residents indicated that drones impacted the Signal radio plant, which manufactures jamming equipment. The Associated Press could not confirm this claim. Other drone strikes were reported in Moscow, where Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated that the drones were intercepted. In the Penza region southeast of Moscow, an industrial facility was also targeted.
Russia's Defense Ministry reported that its air defenses successfully shot down or intercepted a total of 54 Ukrainian drones, including 24 over the Bryansk region, 12 over the Rostov region, six over the annexed Crimean Peninsula, four over the Sea of Azov, and three over the Black Sea, along with a few others in the Orlov, Tula, and Belgorod regions. In a separate incident in Ingushetia, a woman and three children were injured when a drone fell on a private house, as confirmed by regional health officials.