Explosions echoed over Kyiv on Tuesday (April 28, 2026) during a rare daytime Russian drone attack on the capital, after the two sides launched strikes that left six dead.

A major oil refinery in southern Russia was also set ablaze, triggering a local state of emergency as thick black smoke billowed over the coastal town of Tuapse.

Ukraine used interceptor systems to shoot down more than 33,000 Russian drones of various types in March, a record monthly figure since Moscow launched its all-out invasion more than four years ago, Ukraine’s defence minister claimed.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s domestically developed long-range attack drones struck a Russian oil refinery and terminal on the Black Sea for the third time in less than two weeks, prompting the evacuation of local people as a precautionary measure.

Russia ​launched a barrage of drones in waves of attacks on Ukraine, ‌killing four people and damaging gas production facilities, port infrastructure, residential ​buildings and a maternity hospital, Ukrainian officials said on ⁠Saturday.

Russian troops launched 273 drones, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that the southern Odesa region was the focus of the attacks.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ‌said more than 60 drones were used during the Russian strikes on the city of Odesa.

“There was ‌no military purpose whatsoever – this was pure terror against ordinary ‌civilian ⁠life,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app. “Sadly, there is ⁠extensive damage.”

Two killed, 12 wounded in Odesa, Governor says

Oleh Kiper, the regional governor, said two people were killed and 12, including a child, were wounded ​in the attacks on Odesa.

A ‌55-year-old energy worker was killed when Russia struck Ukraine’s gas production facilities in the central Poltava region, energy company Naftogaz said.

A 28-year-old man was also killed in the industrial city of Kryvyi ‌Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the governor said.

The ​air force said Ukrainian air defence units had shot down 252 drones, but that 21 drones had ⁠hit targets at 18 sites.

In the Black Sea port of Odesa, the Russian attacks damaged a maternity hospital, residential buildings and ‌port infrastructure, regional officials said.

Reuters television footage showed firefighters working on the site of the damaged hospital with smashed windows and a destroyed roof.

Ihor Shpak, the hospital’s chief doctor, told Reuters that a powerful explosion had ripped through the building, destroying the roof, connecting structures between the fourth and third floors, and some hospital wards.

Medics ‌managed to evacuate 22 newborn babies, including twins on ventilator support, and ​32 other patients to the shelter just before the attack, he said.

Olena Kudriashova, an Odesa resident, said she ⁠was scared when Shahed drones were flying towards her house.

“On the ⁠right, on the left, at the front, and at the back, windows and doors were smashed. Our little ‌window survived, and we’re so happy we made it through the night,” she told Reuters outside the building with smashed windows ​in central Odesa. 

Ukraine launched more than 280 drones at Russia overnight, one of Kyiv’s largest barrages since the start of the war, Russia’s State news agency reported, citing the Defence Ministry.

Around 90 drones were shot down in the southern Rostov region, its governor Yuri Slyusar posted on Telegram.

Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, in a series of posts, reported that 27 drones headed to the capital had been intercepted.

Two people were wounded in drone attacks that damaged several houses in southwestern Saratov region, its governor Roman Busargin posted on Telegram.

State news agency Tass reported that 283 drones in total had been intercepted, according to Russia’s Defence Ministry.

In retaliation for Russian attacks that have targeted its territory daily since 2022, Kyiv regularly strikes within Russia, saying it primarily targets military and energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators are set to meet in the United States on Saturday (March 21, 2026), according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a bid to revive stalled negotiations aimed at ending the four-year war.

Mr. Zelensky said on Friday (March 20, 2026) that Kyiv’s negotiators will seek clarity from U.S. officials on the next round of three-way talks with Russia, postponed due to war in the Middle East that began late last month.

A barrage of Russian drones and missiles on Ukraine overnight killed at least four people in cities across the country, including a 10-year-old boy, regional officials said on Monday (February 9, 2026).

AFP journalists at the scene of one strike on the southern city of Odesa saw gutted buildings and fire and emergency services working by lamplight to perform CPR on one of the victims.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 11 ballistic missiles and 149 drones — including Iranian-designed Shaheds — at the country from Sunday (February 8) evening into the early hours of Monday (February 9).

Air defence units downed more than one hundred drones and several of the missiles, they added without elaborating.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine nearly four years ago, has bombarded its neighbour while joining recent rounds of U.S.-brokered talks to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

Mykhailo, a 32-year-old resident of the port city of Odesa who lives on the fourth floor of a residential building damaged overnight, told AFP that his apartment windows had been blown out and his car was damaged.

“First we heard the buzzing of a Shahed, and then the hit — and then another hit,” the postal worker said.

Seventeen-year-old student, also named Mykhailo, told AFP that when he stepped out onto his balcony, he saw the doorframe had been dislodged by the blast.

Local officials in the city said that a 35-year-old man was killed and that two more were wounded, including a 19-year-old woman.

Farther north in the Kharkiv region, State emergency services said they had recovered the bodies of a woman and a 10-year-old boy after a drone attack.

And a 71-year-old man was killed by Russian drones in his bed in the settlement of Novgorod-Siversky in the northern Chernigiv region, local authorities said.

Though Washington wants to see the war end by mid-year, Kyiv and Moscow remain at odds over territorial divisions, with Russia pushing for full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal.

Russia occupies around 20% of Ukraine’s land.

Russian drones killed four people overnight in eastern Ukraine, including a five-year-old child, local authorities said on Friday (January 23, 2026).

The attack on late Thursday (January 22, 2026) in the Donetsk region, which is a key aim for the Kremlin’s invading army, wounded five others and destroyed two homes, local prosecutors said.

“A 32-year-old man and his 5-year-old son were killed, as well as two of their neighbours,” prosecutors wrote in a statement on Telegram.

The mother survived the attack in the village of Cherkaske but was wounded alongside three teenage girls and a 34-year-old woman.

Moscow claimed to have annexed the industrial region in late 2022 despite not having full control over it.

It demands that Ukrainian troops must leave Donetsk as part of any peace deal to end its full-scale invasion launched almost four years ago.

Russia has had de-facto control over parts of the region and neighbouring Lugansk since throwing its military and political clout behind pro-Kremlin separatists that rose up more than a decade ago.

Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine overnight into Saturday (October 25, 2025) killed at least four people and wounded 16 others, local officials said.

In the capital, Kyiv, two people were killed and nine were wounded in a ballistic missile attack in the early hours of Saturday, Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said.

A fire broke out in a non-residential building in one location, while debris from intercepted missiles fell in an open area at another site, damaging windows in nearby buildings, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service wrote on the message app Telegram.

“Explosions in the capital. The city is under ballistic attack,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram during the onslaught.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, two people were killed and seven wounded, acting regional Gov Vladyslav Haivanenko said, adding that apartment buildings, private homes, an outbuilding, a shop and at least one vehicle were damaged in the strikes.

Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched nine missiles and 62 drones, of which air defences intercepted four missiles and 50 drones.

In Russia, the country’s Defence Ministry said its air defences shot down 121 Ukrainian drones over Russia overnight.

The attacks came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the United States on Friday to expand sanctions on Russian oil from two companies to the whole sector, and appealed for long-range missiles to hit back at Russia.

Mr. Zelenskyy was in London for talks with two dozen European leaders who have pledged military help to shield his country from future Russian aggression if a ceasefire stops the more than three-year war.

The meeting hosted by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer aimed to step up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding momentum to recent measures that have included a new round of sanctions from the United States and European countries on Russia’s vital oil and gas export earnings.

The talks also addressed ways of helping protect Ukraine’s power grid from Russia’s almost daily drone and missile attacks as winter approaches, enhancing Ukrainian air defences, and supplying Kyiv with longer-range missiles that can strike deep inside Russia.

Mr. Zelenskyy has urged the U.S. to send Tomahawk missiles, an idea U.S. President Donald Trump has considered.