“She screamed — and then silence”: Russians kill woman during phone call as 7 civilians die in strikes

Russian forces launched more than 160 long-range kamikaze drones at Ukraine overnight on 24 November 2025, killing four civilians and injuring sixteen more. As in countless previous attacks, the primary target remained Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. In the morning, Russian artillery and short-range drones had struck several additional locations, killing three more civilians and injuring at least four others.

Kharkiv and surrounding oblast

Kharkiv city and oblast suffered the deadliest consequences. According to the head of Kharkiv Oblast, Oleg Syniehubov, Russian drone strikes killed four civilians — women aged 27, 41, and 69, and a 55-year-old man. According to him, the Russian forces also injured 14 others, including an 11-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, however, reported hours after the attack that 17 people sought medical assistance.

The Russians struck Shevchenkivskyi and Saltivskyi districts of the city with 15 UAVs, the oblast chief wrote. The head of Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, Spartak Borysenko, told Suspilne that a security guard was killed in Kholodnohirskyi district and a woman in Shevchenkivskyi.

Suspilne reported that one of the victims, a 64-year-old woman named Nataliia, was killed by a Russian drone while talking on the phone with her son.

“She said it was getting lower, then screamed — and then the line went dead,” her son Oleksandr said.

He rushed to the scene but found no pulse.

Another woman, a mother of two, died in her kitchen when a drone hit the building. Her husband and children had escaped seconds earlier after hearing the sound of an approaching Shahed. Red Cross rescuers later recovered her body from under the rubble, Suspilne reported.

"There were children, but when the first (Shahed, - Ed.) started falling, they ran out. The children are alive, thank God, the husband is alive, but unfortunately, the woman was killed," Ihor Klymenko, commander of the rapid response unit of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, told Suspilne.

According to Syniehubov, the Russian strikes damaged civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv city, including seven single-family homes, a multi-storey apartment building, power lines, a civilian enterprise, four cars, and an educational facility. As a result of the Russian strikes on Kharkiv, there were power supply disruptions, Syniehubov told journalists at night.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov confirmed that three residential buildings were “completely destroyed” and that strikes targeted the city’s power and heating infrastructure.

“The energy sector and our heating network were the most seriously damaged. We’re now working to make sure people don’t feel the impact,” Terekhov said.

In three other districts of Kharkiv Oblast, residential houses, power lines, cars, another civilian enterprise, an educational facility, and farm sustained damage from Russian attacks. In Moskalivka village, a Russian drone strike injured a 48-year-old woman, Syniehubov said.

Ukrainian Air Force intercepts majority of incoming drones

The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in the morning that Russian forces launched 162 strike drones overnight on 24 November, including over 80 Shahed-type kamikaze UAVs, along with Gerbera decoys, and other drone models. The drones were launched from multiple directions: Kursk, Bryansk, Oryol, Millerovo, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, as well as Hvardiiske in occupied Crimea.

Ukrainian defenses responded using aircraft, anti-aircraft missile systems, electronic warfare units, drone-intercept systems, and mobile fire groups. By 9:00, Ukrainian air defenders had shot down or suppressed 125 of the drones across northern, southern, and eastern parts of the country.

Damage to power grid and emergency measures

Russia’s overnight drone assault heavily targeted Ukraine’s power grid, striking energy infrastructure in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and Donetsk oblasts, according to the Ministry of Energy and national energy operator Ukrenergo.

The most critical situation was reported in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, where over 60,000 consumers remained without electricity by the morning of 24 November. Another 10,000 subscribers lost power in Kharkiv Oblast. Ukrenergo stated that emergency repair crews were working continuously to restore damaged equipment wherever safety conditions permitted.

As a result of this and previous large-scale missile and drone attacks, Ukraine has introduced rolling blackouts nationwide. Throughout the day from 00:00 to 23:59, hourly electricity shutdown schedules and maximum power consumption limits for industrial users and businesses are in effect across all regions.

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In addition, extreme weather further strained the grid. In Lviv Oblast, 45 settlements were left without power due to strong winds and heavy rain. Regional energy teams have been carrying out emergency repairs, and authorities expect electricity to be restored by the end of the day.

Odesa port infrastructure struck again

Russian drones once again targeted civilian port infrastructure in Odesa Oblast overnight. Regional head Oleh Kiper reported that equipment was damaged, and a fire broke out on an unused vessel. Emergency responders quickly extinguished the blaze. No casualties were reported.

Around midnight, explosions were heard in Izmail, according to a Suspilne report.

Chernihiv targeted by morning drone strikes

Russian forces attacked Chernihiv with strike drones in the morning, damaging a private home and sparking a fire. According to Ukraine’s National Police, two people — a brother and sister born in 2002 and 2006 — were injured and hospitalized.

Earlier during the night, Russian drones also hit the village of Zhadove in the region's Novhorod-Siverskyi District. A non-operational fire station, a residential house, and an outbuilding were damaged. No casualties were reported there.

Correspondents from Suspilne reported hearing an explosion in Chernihiv at around 9:45 in the morning.

This morning's Russian shelling and short-range drone strikes, according to local officials

• This morning, Russian artillery hit the Dniprovskyi district of Kherson city, killing a woman and injuring another. In Novovorontsivka, Kherson Oblast, a drone struck a local government building, killing a female administrative worker and injuring one other person.
• In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a Russian FPV drone hit a minivan in the village of Veselianka, killing the driver. In Bilenke village, another drone attack injured two 24-year-old men.
• In Kharkiv Oblast, a woman was injured and more than 60 pigs were killed after a Russian strike hit an agricultural enterprise in Kyrylivka.