Russia Unleashes Massive Air Barrage Amid Ukrainian Drone Strikes Resulting in Civilian Casualties

Kyiv officials reported that Russia executed its most extensive aerial assault of the conflict on Thursday night, while regional authorities in Russia confirmed that a senior citizen lost her life and tens of thousands were left without power due to Ukrainian drone strikes targeting central and southern regions.

A drone reportedly crashed into a two-story apartment building in Dolotinka, located in the Rostov region, resulting in the death of a retired teacher, as stated by acting Governor Yury Slyusar on Telegram.

In the adjacent town of Shakhty, another strike caused power outages for 2,000 households, although there were no injuries, according to Slyusar.

Meanwhile, in the Moscow region, Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported that four drones fell in the Sergiyev Posad area, injuring two individuals and damaging a power substation.

Authorities from Sergiyev Posad indicated that 42,000 residents were without electricity, but regional utility company Rosseti Moscow Region later announced that power had been partially restored.

Russia’s Defense Ministry asserted that air defenses intercepted 48 Ukrainian drones across five regions overnight. They claimed that 26 drones were downed over the Rostov region, but did not report any interceptions in the Moscow area.

Civil aviation authorities temporarily suspended flights in Volgograd, Samara, Saratov, Yaroslavl, Kazan, and Nizhnekamsk as a precautionary measure.

On the Ukrainian side, officials noted that Russia had initiated its largest aerial offensive since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force, indicated that Russia deployed a total of 550 drones and missiles in a single overnight attack.

In Kyiv, the Russian strikes injured at least 23 people and damaged railway infrastructure, necessitating passenger trains to reroute with delays of up to two hours, as reported by Mayor Vitali Klitschko and Ukraine’s national railway service.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commented that these strikes demonstrated that without substantial international pressure, Russia would not alter its reckless and destructive actions.

“For every attack on innocent lives, they should face severe sanctions and other hits to their economy, revenues, and infrastructure,” Zelensky stated on X.

Later, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that the overnight assault on Ukraine was a “high-precision” response to what they labeled as “acts of terrorism” by the Kyiv regime.

The assaults in both countries occurred shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with U.S. President Donald Trump, who mentioned that he “made no progress” toward resolving the war in Ukraine during their hour-long discussion.

Since taking office in January, Trump has aimed to broker a peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow, facilitating the first direct negotiations between the two sides since the early phase of the full-scale invasion.

Despite agreeing on several prisoner exchanges, Ukraine and Russia have not been able to commit to a temporary ceasefire, which the White House has been advocating for in recent months.

Last week, Putin stated that Moscow and Kyiv were far from finalizing any peace agreement, describing the demands from both sides as “entirely contradictory.”

This report includes contributions from AFP.