Russia Launches Overnight Assault on Western Ukraine, Killing Two and Injuring 20
Russia unleashed another wave of drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s western regions overnight, killing two civilians and injuring at least 20 others in strikes that targeted residential neighborhoods, educational institutions, and public infrastructure far from the front line.
The Gaze reports on this with reference to regional authorities.
For the third consecutive night, cities including Lviv, Chernivtsi, and Lutsk were hit by coordinated air assaults involving dozens of Iranian-made Shahed drones and cruise missiles.
In Chernivtsi, a 26-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man were killed when debris from intercepted drones struck residential areas.
Fourteen others were injured, with four in critical condition, according to Ruslan Zaparnyuk, head of the regional military administration.
Fires erupted across multiple sites in the city, damaging homes, administrative offices, commercial buildings, and vehicles.
In Lviv, drone strikes sparked a rooftop fire and caused significant damage to residential and industrial buildings, vehicles, and a kindergarten.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi reported that 46 homes and 20 cars were damaged, with three buildings of the Lviv Polytechnic National University and several court offices among the affected.
Six people were injured, including an 11-year-old boy; one person was hospitalized while others were treated at the scene.
Lutsk also suffered damage during the assault. A residential home and a vehicle were hit, but no casualties were reported. Firefighters extinguished a blaze caused by the drone strike at 6:08 a.m., local time.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia launched 26 cruise missiles and 597 drones overnight, targeting multiple western oblasts.
Most were intercepted by Ukrainian defenses, but the volume and geographic spread of the attacks have raised alarm about Russia’s evolving strategy.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that “the pace of Russia’s aerial strikes demands swift decisions” and emphasized the urgent need for additional air defense systems and interceptor drones.
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