A Russian drone targeted a petrol station with a bus there that had been carrying about 40 children near a petrol station in Krynychky community, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, on the morning of 3 May 2026, the regional administration reported. The children had stepped off the bus seconds earlier to use the petrol station toilet. Six people were wounded, including a 10-year-old boy and a pregnant 21-year-old woman. The strike came after Russia launched 268 drones and a ballistic missile overnight at Ukraine, killing two and wounding five in Odesa Oblast, two and wounding more than 26 in Kherson Oblast, and targeting more civilians in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, and Sumy oblasts.
The bus near Dnipro: a 30-second margin
About 8 a.m. on 3 May, a tour bus carrying around 40 children pulled into a petrol station in the Krynychky community, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The children — on a holiday trip to Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council, Mykola Lukashuk, said — got off the bus to use the toilet. The driver and his partner stepped out as well.
A Russian drone arrived seconds later.
"It was around 8 a.m. We stopped, dropped the kids off at the toilet. They had only just gotten out, and the drone was flying in. We thought it would pass over us. My partner even said: hide. I didn't make it... The bus was pierced right through. I flew three meters through the air..." the driver, Serhii, told Suspilne.
A truck at the petrol station caught fire. Six people were wounded. The 10-year-old boy was hospitalized in moderate condition. Five adults were also hospitalized — among them a pregnant 21-year-old woman and a 40-year-old woman whose condition is serious. The rest are in moderate condition.
The 40 children were evacuated to the nearby Zatyshne community, where local residents prepared hot food for them. The children continued their trip to Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast on a replacement bus, the trip organizers told Suspilne.
Five oblasts, two killed in Odesa, two killed in Kherson, dozens wounded
In the Nikopol raion of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Russian forces hit the area with more than 10 drone strikes overnight, wounding a 69-year-old man (in outpatient treatment) and damaging a detached house and a car, Suspilne reported.
In Odesa Oblast, Russia kept up its strikes on civilian and port infrastructure overnight, the head of the regional administration Oleh Kiper reported. Two people were killed and five wounded. Russian drones directly hit three residential houses in Odesa raion and damaged two more. Port buildings and equipment were also damaged. Rescuers extinguished the fires.
In Mykolaiv, two people were wounded in a Russian ballistic missile strike on the city, the regional administration said.
Across Kherson Oblast, Russian attacks killed two people and wounded 26, including three children, the head of the regional administration Oleksandr Prokudin reported. A cell tower, a shop, an administrative building, three apartment blocks, five detached houses, route buses, an ambulance, agricultural machinery, and other vehicles were damaged. Russia shelled 39 settlements across the oblast.
At least 12 more civilian injuries were reported across the region this morning, as Russia continued targeting civilian cars with drones, and bombarding several settlements.
Russia’s overnight target list in Odesa: a hotel, the funicular, the port, three districts, 14 civilians
In Kharkiv Oblast, Russian strikes on Kharkiv city and 17 settlements wounded 13 people in the past 24 hours, the head of the regional administration Oleh Syniehubov reported. Among the wounded: men aged 47, 89, 62, 61, and 44, and women aged 49, 38, 48, and 57 in Kharkiv city; a 47-year-old man in Bilyi Kolodiaz village in Vovchansk community; and 34- and 76-year-old men and a 53-year-old woman in Balaklia. Russia attacked five districts of Kharkiv city with drones. Across the oblast, Russian forces deployed one guided aerial bomb, 12 Geran-2 (Iranian-designed Shahed-136) drones, two Lancet drones, 11 Molniya drones, one FPV drone, and 55 drones of unidentified types.
Daytime explosions were heard in Kharkiv at 12:07 and outside the city at 13:41, Suspilne correspondents reported.
In Donetsk Oblast, Russia shelled settlements 25 times in the past 24 hours, killing two people and wounding seven across Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk, and Bakhmut raions, the head of the regional administration Vadym Filashkin said. The dead and wounded came from Dobropillia, Sydorove, Mykolaivka, Kryvorizhzhia, Zavydo-Borzenets, and Druzhkivka. Multiple apartment blocks and detached houses were damaged. Some 261 people, including 57 children, were evacuated from the front line.
In Sumy Oblast, Russian shelling, drone, and missile strikes over the past 24 hours killed one person and wounded at least 18, including a 2-year-old child and two boys aged 10 and 11, the regional administration reported.
On the morning of 3 May, a Russian drone deliberately struck a grain truck in Hlukhiv community, hospitalizing the 46-year-old driver in serious condition, the regional administration said. A 69-year-old woman wounded in a Russian attack on Shostka raion the previous day died in hospital.
249 of 268 drones downed, AF says
Overnight from the evening of 2 May to the morning of 3 May, Russia launched a ballistic Iskander-M missile from Russia's Kursk Oblast and 268 strike drones — Shahed (including jet variants), Gerbera, Italmas, and other types — from Kursk, Shatalovo, Oryol, Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, occupied Hvardiiske and Chauda in occupied Crimea, and occupied Donetsk, the Air Force reported. More than 160 of the drones were Shaheds.
By 8 a.m. on 3 May, Ukrainian air defenses had downed or jammed 249 drones across the north, south, west, and east of the country, with the ballistic missile and 19 drones striking 15 locations and falling debris recorded at one more, the Air Force said. The attack continued past dawn, with several Russian drones still in Ukrainian airspace at the time of the report.
