Eight Ukrainian civilians were killed and damage spread across regional infrastructure and commercial shipping after a large overnight assault that Kyiv said included 174 drones and two Zircon antiship missiles. Ukraine’s Air Force reported the incoming wave came from Russian territory and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula, and said its systems intercepted or jammed 141 of the objects while recording shootdowns at 15 locations and falling debris in nine others.
The Air Force added, "Enemy [Zircon antiship] missiles did not reach the targets." Moscow’s Defence Ministry said its forces used Geran-4 Seeker loitering drones to strike two commercial vessels in the Black Sea, naming one as a Ukrainian dry cargo ship bound for Odesa and the other as a tanker berthed at the port of Odesa, and asserting both carried military supplies.
Local officials described the human toll and damage on land. Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said strikes across 14 settlements killed five people and wounded 15, and reported heavy destruction in towns including Balakliya and Lypkuvativka. In Kherson, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said shelling across 25 communities killed three people and injured five, damaging high-rise flats, private homes, a cell tower and a gas pipeline.
Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Ganzha reported more than ten attacks across four districts using drones, artillery and aerial bombs and said, "Two people were injured." Officials listed damage to warehouses in Dnipro, an outpatient clinic in Pavlohrad, a shopping centre in Nikopol and several homes in Kryvyi Rih and Synelnyky.
Poland briefly scrambled fighter jets and raised the readiness of its air-defence systems amid the high volume of drone activity near its border. The Polish Operational Command said, "In connection with strikes carried out by the Russian Federation using jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles on the territory of Ukraine, military aviation operations have begun in Polish airspace," and that it had "activated all necessary forces and resources at its disposal" with ground-based air defences and radar units placed at their highest state of readiness. A follow-up statement said the operation ended shortly afterwards, no airspace violations were recorded, and forces remained on alert while monitoring the border.
The Russian Defence Ministry also reported battlefield gains, saying its forces had advanced over 5,300 square kilometres this year, including 670sq km captured in September, and noting steady progress towards Zaporizhzhia with intense fighting on approaches to the Kramatorsk-Slovyansk area. Kyiv and Moscow continued to exchange competing claims as Ukrainian defences sought to repel the latest strikes and neighbouring states maintained heightened vigilance.
