Russia launched a massive air attack against Ukraine on 19 March, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly agreed to a temporary ceasefire proposal from US President Donald Trump.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia fired two Iskander-M ballistic missiles, four S-300 surface-to-air missiles, and 145 Shahed attack drones and various decoy drones from multiple launch sites including Bryansk, Orel, Shatalovo, Kursk, Millerovo, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk.
Ukrainian forces intercepted 72 attack drones across twelve oblasts, including Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa.
The Kyiv Military Administration reported that 45 drones targeted the capital, with 19 shot down by air defenses.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Serhiy Lysak said that overnight, the Ukraine’s air defense downed eight drones over Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
Ukrainian railways company Ukrzaliznytsia reported that Russian forces had targeted railway energy systems in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast during the attacks.
In Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast, a Russian strike on 18 March at 8:50 pm injured three civilians, according to the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office. Two civilians aged 58 and 59 years were injured, suffering mine-explosive injuries and contusions. A 71-year-old woman was diagnosed with an acute stress reaction, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Vadym Liakh, head of the Sloviansk city military administration, confirmed that over 20 private homes and several vehicles were damaged or destroyed in the Cherevkivka neighborhood.
In the late hours of 18 March, a Russian Shahed drone hit the regional hospital in Sumy. There were reportedly no injured.
Director of the Sumy Regional Hospital Volodymyr Horokh said that the drone strike damaged the roof and communications in the attic. The attack also damaged four wards located on the fifth floor.
Some 147 hospital patients were evacuated, including 9 people with limited mobility. The blast wave also damaged the premises of a children’s medical institution.
The attack occurred shortly after the Kremlin announced that Putin had supported Trump’s proposal for Ukraine and Russia to mutually refrain from strikes on energy infrastructure for 30 days, with Putin reportedly issuing “the corresponding order to the military.”
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