A Russian drone struck an apartment building in eastern Ukraine early Saturday while residents slept, killing three people and injuring twelve others, including two children, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Massive Overnight Assault on Civilian Areas
The attack occurred in Dnipro, Ukraine's fourth-largest city, where the drone slammed into a nine-story residential building. Emergency services reported that the impact caused a fire that destroyed several apartments and required extensive rescue operations.
Rescuers recovered the bodies of three victims from the wreckage, while twelve injured people were transported to medical facilities. The assault was part of a broader Russian missile and drone barrage that targeted power infrastructure across multiple Ukrainian regions.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk confirmed that authorities had to switch off power in several regions due to damage from the attacks. In Kharkiv, farther north, a local official reported that an energy company worker was killed during the strikes.
Ukraine's Air Defense Responds to Massive Barrage
According to Ukrainian air force statements, Russia launched a total of 458 drones and 45 missiles, including 32 ballistic missiles, in the overnight attack. Ukrainian forces managed to shoot down 406 drones and 9 missiles, but 25 locations still suffered impacts.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko stated on social media platform X that the strikes damaged "several major energy facilities" around Kharkiv, Kyiv, and the central Poltava region. Thermal power plants operated by state energy company Centrenergo were again knocked offline by the nighttime strikes, the company confirmed in a Saturday statement.
This marks the second time Centrenergo's three plants in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions have been damaged after previous attacks last year that required extensive restoration work.
Nuclear Tensions and Battlefield Developments
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced Saturday that work has begun on President Vladimir Putin's order to prepare plans for a possible Russian nuclear test, according to state news agency Tass. Putin's Wednesday order followed statements by former US President Donald Trump that appeared to suggest Washington would restart its own atomic tests for the first time in three decades.
On the battlefield, fighting for the strategic city of Pokrovsk has reached a critical stage, with both Kyiv and Moscow attempting to persuade Trump that they can achieve military victory. The city sits along the eastern front line as part of what has been called the "fortress belt" of Donetsk - a line of heavily fortified cities crucial to Ukraine's regional defense.
Analysts suggest Pokrovsk could become a key factor in influencing Washington's stance and potentially swaying the course of peace negotiations. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that their forces advanced near Pokrovsk and the nearby town of Myrnohrad, stating both were encircled, though these claims couldn't be independently verified.
Russia's Defense Ministry asserted that their nighttime strikes specifically hit military and energy sites supplying Ukrainian forces, while Ukraine continues its long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries to deprive Moscow of oil export revenue needed to fund the war.
The conflict continues to escalate with near-daily assaults on energy infrastructure from both sides, as diplomatic efforts led by the United States have failed to impact the nearly four-year war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed on Friday to "find a way to ensure there is no Russian oil in Europe," speaking shortly after Hungary secured a yearlong exemption from recent US sanctions targeting major Russian oil producers.
