Russia launched 152 Shahed-type attack drones across Ukraine overnight on August 15, killing a three-month-old boy in the city of Marhanets and injuring 11 others in one of the largest single-night drone barrages in recent weeks.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that the drones, including jet-powered variants, Gerbera drones, Bandero loitering munitions, and Parodiya-type decoy drones, were launched from directions in Kursk, Orel, Millerovo, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, as well as from temporarily occupied Donetsk. Air defense forces shot down or suppressed 124 Shahed and Gerbera drones along with three Bandero munitions in the north, south, and east of the country.
Hits by enemy drones were recorded at 16 locations across Ukraine, while debris from downed targets fell at one additional site. In Marhanets, a drone struck a high-rise residential building, killing the infant and injuring 11 people, seven of whom were hospitalized in serious condition, according to regional authorities.
Strikes hit Zaporizhzhia shopping center and Odesa factory
In Zaporizhzhia, drones struck the Epicentr shopping center, sparking a fire, as well as an industrial facility in the city. In the Odesa region, Russian forces targeted a footwear factory in the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district with drones, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
The overnight barrage came just hours after Ukraine confirmed its own deep-strike operation using domestically produced Flamingo missiles, which hit a Roscosmos facility in Samara Oblast and the Savasleyka military airbase housing MiG-31 fighters capable of launching Kinzhal ballistic missiles. The contrasting attacks highlighted the escalating cycle of long-range strikes between the two sides.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported that Russia has now lost a cumulative total of 1,465,810 troops since the full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, including an estimated 1,370 casualties over the past 24 hours. President Zelensky has set a target of inflicting at least 30,000 Russian losses during August, according to statements from his office.
Drone warfare intensifies across front lines
The scale of the overnight attack underscores Russia’s continued reliance on mass drone assaults to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and strike civilian infrastructure deep behind front lines. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called on Western allies to accelerate deliveries of air defense systems, warning that the volume of incoming drones is straining intercept capacities.
The strikes on civilian targets, including residential buildings and shopping centers, continue to draw international condemnation. With both sides now conducting regular deep-strike operations into each other’s territory, the conflict’s geographic scope has expanded well beyond the traditional front lines in the east and south.
Sources: Ukrainian Air Force; RBC-Ukraine; Kyiv Independent; General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
discussion