Russian forces conducted multiple drone and missile strikes across Ukraine overnight on 18 April, causing civilian casualties and widespread damage to residential areas, according to Ukrainian officials.
The Ukraine’s air defence forces shot down three Iskander-K cruise missiles and 23 drones, while another ten simulator drones were lost in the area.
In total, Russian troops fired one Iskander-M ballistic missile, five Iskander-K cruise missiles, 37 Shahed attack drones and other types of imitation drones at Ukraine.
The attack hit Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, and Kyiv oblasts.
Russian forces launched at least four missile strikes on densely populated areas of Kharkiv on the morning of 18 April, with the number of wounded rising to 86, including six children, according to Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov. One person has been killed.
“According to preliminary information, Kharkiv was hit by ballistic missiles with cluster munitions. This is why the affected areas are so large,” Terekhov said.
Russia uses ballistic missiles equipped with cluster munitions to destroy multiple targets dispersed over a wide area by spreading numerous explosive submunitions across a large zone. This approach maximizes area damage and lethality in a single strike by causing many simultaneous explosions over the targeted region.
The Kharkiv mayor said that over 20 apartment buildings and over 30 private homes were damaged in the attack.
Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said the shelling targeted a residential area in the Osnovianskyi district.
In Sumy, Russian forces struck a civilian infrastructure target with Shahed drones on the morning of 18 April, killing one person, the Sumy Regional Military Administration reported.
Mykhailo Melnyk, head of the Sumy District Military Administration, said that Russian forces hit a confectionery workshop where Easter cakes were being baked.
“A businessman who came to pick up products died. A confectionery workshop employee was injured,” Melnyk said.
Emergency services reported they recovered the body of the deceased from under the rubble.
In the Dnipro Oblast, Russian attacks damaged a hotel, office building, and fitness center in Dnipro city, and hit private homes in the Dnipro district, according to Governor Serhii Lysak.
In the Novooleksandrivka community, property in an outbuilding was burning, according to Lysak.
The Nikopol area was attacked with kamikaze drones and Grad multiple rocket launchers. An apartment building, private home, car, power line and gas pipeline were damaged in the Nikopol, Myriv and Marhanets communities. There were no casualties, the regional head said.
According to Lysak, Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed three drones and three missiles over the Dnipro Oblast.
Russian forces are launching missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities almost every day, while denying that their army is targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities and international organizations classify these strikes as war crimes.
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