Russian air strikes kill eight civilians and disrupt power in Ukraine

Russian strikes across Ukraine have killed at least eight people, Al Jazeera and Reuters both report. Al Jazeera reported that nearly 60 people were injured in the latest wave of attacks. According to ABC News Australia, Russian drones killed at least three people overnight and struck two shopping centres alongside critical energy infrastructure. [1][4][7]

The Ukrainian Air Force stated that Russia launched 332 drones and missiles overnight, with 293 of them being intercepted or neutralised, according to Al Jazeera. Reuters reported that the attacks cut electricity to more than one million people, while ABC News Australia placed the number of affected residents at 370,000. [1][4][7]

During the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has documented that Russian forces have continuously launched deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilian targets using cluster bombs, heavy artillery shells, and missiles. As of 2026, UN figures document between 16,000 and an estimated 40,000 civilian deaths. [12]

The strikes follow recent military developments where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered attacks against Russian oil refineries, as FTMQ News reported earlier. A separate report by the Washington Examiner noted that resuming strikes on Russia's energy network risks political fallout in the United States, where former President Donald Trump called the strikes on Russian refineries a disgrace, according to the Guardian. [5][10][14]