A Russian drone slammed into an apartment tower in eastern Ukraine early Saturday, killing three people as they slept and ripping through several floors of the building.
The pre-dawn strike in Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, left a gaping hole in the nine-story block. Emergency services scrambled to the scene, pulling survivors from the smoking rubble. Ukrainian officials reported that 12 people were injured in the attack, including two children.
The Dnipro attack was part of a large-scale Russian missile and drone barrage unleashed across the country. The assault, which officials said involved nearly 500 drones and missiles, primarily targeted Ukraine’s power infrastructure.
In Kharkiv, farther north, an energy company worker was also killed as the wave of strikes hit power facilities.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk confirmed authorities were forced to switch off power in several regions following the attacks. The strikes are the latest in a relentless, near-daily assault on energy targets by both sides.
Russia has been pummeling the Ukrainian power grid. Kyiv officials say the infrastructure campaign is an attempt to “weaponize winter” by denying civilians heat, light, and water.
In response, Ukraine has escalated its own long-range drone strikes against Russian oil refineries, aiming to cut off the export revenue funding Moscow’s war effort.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Saturday’s strikes damaged “several major energy facilities” near Kharkiv, Kyiv, and in the central Poltava region. “We are working to eliminate the consequences,” she added.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its nighttime strikes hit military targets and energy sites supplying Ukrainian forces. The ministry also asserted it had repelled a “massive” Ukrainian drone attack on energy facilities in its southern Volgograd region and shot down 82 Ukrainian drones overnight.
While the skies buzzed with drones, intense fighting has reportedly reached a critical stage on the ground in the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk.
The city is a key part of the “fortress belt” in the Donetsk region. Analysts suggest both Kyiv and Moscow are vying to demonstrate battlefield success there, hoping to influence the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Saturday its troops had advanced, encircling both Pokrovsk and the nearby town of Myrnohrad. It also claimed to have surrounded Ukrainian forces in Kupiansk, a key railway hub.
Kyiv did not immediately comment on the claims, which could not be independently verified. Ukrainian officials have previously described the Pokrovsk situation as “dire” but have denied any encirclement.
The infrastructure war is increasingly intertwined with complex diplomacy. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed Friday to “find a way to ensure there is no Russian oil in Europe.”
His comments followed news that Hungary, led by Trump ally Viktor Orbán, had secured an exemption from recent U.S. sanctions targeting major Russian oil firms like Rosneft and Lukoil.
While most EU members halted Russian fuel imports after the 2022 invasion, Hungary and Slovakia have maintained pipeline deliveries. Mr. Orbán argues that landlocked Hungary has no viable alternative, a claim his critics dispute.
