Kyiv — Ukraine has faced one of the most devastating weeks in recent months as Russian forces unleashed an unrelenting wave of aerial attacks across the country, leaving a trail of destruction, fires, and civilian casualties.
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, over the past seven days, Russian forces have launched nearly 1,200 attack drones, more than 1,360 guided aerial bombs, and over 50 missiles of various types targeting Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
During the night of October 26, Ukraine came under a massive assault involving 101 drones, including 60 Shahed-type UAVs. Ukrainian air defense units successfully destroyed or suppressed 90 enemy drones; however, several struck residential areas, causing fires and casualties. Five attack drones hit four locations, while debris fell across five others.
In Kyiv, emergency services battled fires ignited by falling debris in the Desnianskyi and Darnytskyi districts. The capital suffered significant damage when drone fragments struck residential buildings in Desnianskyi, setting them ablaze. In the Obolonskyi district, debris damaged the roof of a high-rise building.
Tragically, three people were killed and 33 injured, including seven children.
Elsewhere, the city of Sumy endured multiple strikes throughout the day. A drone attack hit the roof of an apartment building, injuring one person. Later, an enemy drone targeted a civilian cargo vehicle on the outskirts of the Bilopillya community, injuring a 36-year-old man who was delivering food. Around 16:50, a passenger minibus traveling along the Sumy–Bilopillya highway was struck directly by a drone. The attack destroyed the vehicle completely and injured five people, including a child.
In the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Russian forces attacked repeatedly with heavy artillery, guided bombs, and drones, damaging homes, infrastructure, and a local gymnasium in the Nikopol area. In Kryvyi Rih, debris from a guided aerial bomb caused a fire at an industrial facility, leaving one person injured.
The Kherson region also came under fire. In the Dnipro district of Kherson, shelling wounded a 77-year-old woman, who was hospitalized with blast trauma and facial injuries.
In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a Russian airstrike killed a 63-year-old man and injured another resident in Rivnopillia. Regional governor Ivan Fedorov reported that on October 25 alone, Russian forces carried out 663 strikes on 16 settlements in the region.
The capital was hit hard earlier this week when a Russian attack on October 25 destroyed a 29,000-square-meter warehouse complex and the offices of Optima-Pharm, Ukraine’s second-largest pharmaceutical distributor. The company estimates losses exceeding $100 million. This was the second attack on Optima-Pharm — a previous strike on August 28 also targeted its pharmaceutical warehouse in Kyiv.
“These attacks serve no military purpose. They only bring pain, suffering, and destruction to our people,” President Zelenskyy said in his evening address. “Ukraine will not break — we will rebuild and defend every city, every life.”
As rescue operations continue across the country, the human toll of this week’s violence underscores the ongoing humanitarian cost of the war — a war that, despite its relentless bombardment, has not shaken Ukraine’s resolve.
BY: The Times Union
