Russia launched a massive wave of missile and drone strikes across Ukraine overnight, killing at least 13 people and injuring 90 others in attacks targeting cities from the northeast to the south, Ukrainian officials reported on Saturday.
The heaviest casualties were reported in the Kharkiv region, where a Russian strike on the Saltivka district killed two people and injured at least 21 more. Emergency responders rescued seven people from the upper floors of a high-rise residential building that was hit in the attack. Fires broke out in several buildings as rescue teams worked through the night.
In the southern port city of Odesa, a massive Russian strike damaged residential buildings and port infrastructure, injuring at least 13 people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack targeted energy infrastructure as well as residential areas and the port, leaving 300,000 families without power in the city.
The Zhytomyr region in central Ukraine was also hit, with three people reported injured in the overnight strikes. Ukrainian air defense forces reported intercepting 174 Shahed-type attack drones and five Banderol missiles during the attack wave, which targeted multiple regions simultaneously.
“This brutal strike on Odesa targeted energy infrastructure, residential buildings, and the port,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media, condemning what he described as ballistic terror across multiple regions. He called for more air defense systems and tighter sanctions against Russia.
The attacks came as the frontline situation remained intense across eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces conducted 66 attacks over the past 24 hours, with the heaviest fighting near Kursk, Kostiantynivka, and Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.
Russia’s losses over the past day included an estimated 1,130 casualties, bringing the total Russian losses since the start of the full-scale invasion to approximately 1,457,740 troops, according to the Ukrainian General Staff. Moscow does not release its own casualty figures.
The overnight attacks also drew international attention, with Turkey calling for a moratorium on attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea after drone strikes injured crew members on Turkish cargo ships near the Russian port of Novorossiysk. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged both sides to halt attacks on shipping in the waterway.
Sources:
Kyiv Independent: Russian Strikes Hit Critical Infrastructure
Politico EU: Russia and Ukraine Exchange Overnight Strikes
Euromaidan Press: Kharkiv Strike Kills Two, Wounds 21
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