Russia hammers targets across Ukraine overnight

Attacks on towns on the Black Sea and in central Ukraine kill one, injure several. Zelenskyy calls on Europe for more action to ‘weaken’ Russia.In this photo provided by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, rescue workers extinguish a fire in a residential building destroyed by a Russian drone strike on Odesa region, Ukraine, where attacks continued on Thursday night [Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP]Published On 1 May 2026Russia has continued heavy attacks on Ukraine for the past 24 hours, with several coming overnight on Thursday and in the early hours of Friday. At least one person has been killed and several have been injured.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said overnight 210 strike drones had been launched, about 140 of them “shaheeds” – the Iranian drones used by Russia in strikes on Ukraine.In a message on the Telegram platform on Friday, he wrote: “Russia continues to attack our energy sector, critical infrastructure, and civilian facilities. It is such daily strikes that show that more pressure is needed on Russia. We need to weaken the aggressor so that Europe has more security. The continuation of the sanctions policy must be, as well as the synchronisation of all our sanctions with partners.”“In the Kharkiv region, railway infrastructure was attacked, traction substations were hit. There was damage, cars caught fire. Thousands of families were left without electricity due to shelling. They also hit the Sumy region and Zaporizhia region,” the president said.A Russian drone attack overnight damaged port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region and wounded at least two people in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said on Friday morning.Two high-rise residential buildings were damaged in the attack, which destroyed apartments and caused fires, Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app.“This night, Russia again massively attacked the civilian infrastructure of the Odesa region: two people were injured,” he said.Kiper noted that two multistorey residential buildings in Odesa were damaged by drone strikes. Apartments were destroyed and fires broke out at the sites of the hits, and all necessary assistance was being provided to the victims.The Russian army also attacked the Black Sea shipbuilding town of Mykolaiv with drones, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych reported on Facebook.“As a result of the impact, there is damage in the private sector, and a fire also broke out,” he wrote. He warned residents that the threat is ongoing and urged people to remain sheltered.On Thursday night, Ukraine launched its fourth drone attack in the past week on Russia’s Black Sea port of Tuapse, as it continues to target Russian energy infrastructure in a bid to halt oil revenues.“In Tuapse, as a result of a drone ⁠attack by the ⁠Kyiv regime, a fire broke out on the territory ⁠of the seaport ⁠terminal,” the General ⁠Headquarters in the Krasnodar Region reported on Telegram. It ‌added that emergency crews were working at ‌the ‌site.Russia hits central UkraineThe Russian army attacked three districts of the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine “almost 20 times” with drones and artillery, the head of the Regional Military Administration (OVA), Oleksandr Ganzha, wrote on Telegram.Ganzha reported that infrastructure was damaged in Kryvyi Rih, where one person was injured.Ukraine’s news outlet Interfax reported that there were strikes on the Synelnyky district, the Dubovykivska and Petropavlivska communities, where a garage and a car were burned, and residences were damaged.In the Nikopol district, communities in Nikopol, Marhanetska and Chervonohryhorivska have been affected. A private house was occupied and infrastructure, a petrol station, an administrative building and buses were damaged, Interfax reported.In Kherson, attacks by drones have continued for the past 24 hours in Kherson, Zymivnyk, Komyshany and Zelenivka.The head of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, Yaroslav Shanko, wrote on Telegram: “Over the past day, 4 settlements in the Kherson community have been subjected to enemy attacks. As a result of Russian attacks in the Kherson community, 1 person was killed and 8 were injured.”Private houses and multistorey buildings, an administrative building, warehouses, buses and civilian cars have been damaged.(Al Jazeera)