Russia attacks Zaporizhzhia and Odesa oblasts with drones overnight

Russia launched drone attacks on Zaporizhzhia and Odesa oblasts overnight on 19 April, damaging residential buildings and causing fires, according to official sources. The Russian attacks elsewhere killed two civilians and injured 13 others, local authorities reported.

Zaporizhzhia Oblast authorities reported that Russian forces struck the village of Mahdalynivka with Shahed drones in the early hours of the morning. The attack damaged residential buildings, a garage, and a car. The Russians also targeted the city of Zaporizhzhia itself, causing a fire on a transportation company’s premises. 

In Odesa Oblast, the Russian air assault destroyed farm properties, the State Emergency Service reported. The fires were extinguished by both rescuers and the local fire brigade. No casualties or injuries were recorded, according to the State Emergency Service.

In Sumy Oblast, fires broke out in populated areas of Putyvl, Buryn, and Sumy communities, burning non-residential buildings and vehicles. Russian forces also attacked the residential sector of Krasnopil community, the State Emergency Service says. The oblast authorities reported that over the past 24 hours, the Russians targeted numerous settlements with guided bombs, rockets, artillery, and drones. Both sources did not report any civilian casualties.

In Kharkiv Oblast, an unidentified drone strike damaged a detached house in the village of Shestakove over the past day, according to oblast authorities. In Kupiansk district, a Lancet drone damaged a house in the village of Nechvolodivka, while a Russian FPV drone strike injured a 60-year-old woman in the village of Podoly of the same district. In the village of Horokhovatka in Izium district, a car caught fire following a probable missile strike, injuring a woman.

In Donetsk Oblast, the Russians killed one local in Nove and injured two others elsewhere over the part 24 hours, according to local authorities. Emergency responders reported two fires in the regions resulting from shelling, in Lyman and Sloviansk.

Meanwhile, this morning, the Russians attacked Novopavlivka community in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast with KAB guided bombs, destroying a detached home. The regional authorities say no one was hurt.

The Kherson Oblast Administration reported 9 civilian injuries from the Russian attacks over the past day. Later, they updated that a 16-year-old boy injured in Russia’s 17 April attack on central Kherson has died in hospital. Around 9:00 today, the Russians shelled Zelenivka, injuring a 74-year-old woman, then injured a man, 70, by dropping explosives from a drone in Kizomys.

Air defense response

Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russian forces launched an attack on Ukraine with ground-based and air-based missiles as well as strike drones starting at 21:00 on 18 April.

According to preliminary data, Ukrainian radio technical troops detected and tracked 95 Russian aerial weapons, including 8 missiles of various types and 87 strike and decoy drones:

• 3 Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 2 Oniks anti-ship missiles launched from occupied Crimea.
• 3 Kh-31P anti-radar missiles
• 87 Shahed strike drones and decoy drones of other types, launched from Millerovo, Kursk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, and Hvardiiske in occupied Crimea.

By 09:00, Ukrainian forces confirmed shooting down 33 Shahed strike drones in the east, north, and south of the country. Another 36 Russian decoy drones disappeared from radar without causing harm.

The Air Force’s data suggest that at least 18 drones and all 8 missiles may have reached their intended targets.

As a result of the enemy attack, Odesa, Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions suffered damage, as per the report.