At least seven people were killed and 45 injured in a massive Russian aerial strike on Ukraine on April 25, 2026, marking one of the largest coordinated attacks on civilian areas since the invasion began.
The assault unfolded in waves, beginning overnight and continuing into the day, with Russian forces launching 47 missiles and 619 drones across eight Ukrainian regions. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 580 drones and 30 missiles, according to the Air Force, but the sheer volume overwhelmed defenses in key areas, particularly Dnipro.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Governor Oleksandr Hanzha reported that a four-story building and an unspecified industrial facility were struck during the overnight barrage. Four bodies were recovered from the wreckage of a destroyed home, and at least 27 people were injured, including a nine-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl. Eleven were hospitalized, with two police officers among the injured.
The attacks did not end with dawn. A second strike hit the same residential area in Dnipro during the day, killing one more person and injuring seven, including three children. Deputy Mayor Yurii Yandulskyi and other officials who had returned to assess damage were nearly killed in what Mayor Borys Filatov described as a deliberate double-tap — a tactic designed to target first responders and civilians fleeing initial strikes.
Beyond Dnipro, the violence spread. In Kharkiv, a missile strike near a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district destroyed a public transport stop, while a separate drone attack in the Nemyshlianskyi district injured a toddler. In Chernihiv, two people died in Nizhyn, and in Odesa, residential areas and port infrastructure were damaged. Even beyond Ukraine’s borders, the conflict reached into Russian territory: a Ukrainian drone strike in Belgorod killed a woman and seriously wounded a man, and drone fragments were found in a residential area of Galați, Romania, near NATO’s eastern flank, though no casualties were reported there.
For more on this story, see Russian Missile Strike on Kyiv Kills Child and Woman, Injures Medics.
The timing of the assault added another layer of significance. It followed a prisoner exchange on April 24, in which Russia and Ukraine swapped 193 service members — one of the few tangible outcomes of stalled U.S.-brokered negotiations that have yielded no progress on ending the war, now in its fifth year. Speaking in Baku, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated Ukraine’s openness to peace talks in Azerbaijan, noting previous discussions in Turkey and Switzerland, but stressed that diplomacy requires reciprocity.
The scale and pattern of the attack underscore a grim continuity in Russian strategy: overwhelming numbers of drones and missiles aimed at urban centers, with civilian infrastructure — homes, schools, transport stops, shops — repeatedly in the crosshairs. Despite international sanctions, including a new EU package targeting energy, banking, and trade that faced delays due to Hungarian opposition, the barrage continued, suggesting limited immediate impact on Moscow’s capacity or willingness to sustain such operations.
For residents of Dnipro and other affected cities, the rhythm of life has grow defined by intervals between alerts. The double-tap strike on a residential neighborhood — where rescuers and officials were nearly hit while assessing damage — reveals not just the brutality of the tactic, but its psychological toll: even survival offers no guarantee of safety.
How many drones and missiles were launched in the attack?
Russian forces launched 47 missiles and 619 drones overnight, according to Ukraine’s Air Force, which reported intercepting 580 drones and 30 missiles.
Were there any casualties outside of Ukraine?
Yes. In Russia’s Belgorod region, a Ukrainian drone strike killed a woman and seriously wounded a man. Drone fragments were found in a residential area of Galați, Romania, near the NATO border, though no casualties were reported there.
