Russia and Ukraine Exchange Overnight Strikes, New Casualties Reported
Theo Al Jazeera English
Russia and Ukraine continued overnight aerial attacks against each other, causing civilian casualties and infrastructure damage. Ukraine targeted multiple Russian oil refineries, while Russia struck the Dnipropetrovsk region and a cargo ship near Odesa.
Russia and Ukraine continued to exchange overnight aerial strikes, causing casualties on both sides, according to local officials. In Ukraine, two people were killed and three injured in a Russian attack on the Nikopol district of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration. He added on Telegram that four areas were attacked more than 20 times using drones, artillery, and glide bombs.
On the Russian side, a Ukrainian drone attack in Volgograd Oblast killed one person and injured eight, according to regional governor Andrei Bocharov, who posted on Telegram on Friday. In Rostov Oblast, a woman was injured in a drone attack in the town of Gukovo, according to Governor Yuri Slyusar.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine's long- and medium-range strikes targeted Russian infrastructure, including three logistics centers in Sarapul, Kazan, and Volgograd. Ukrainian forces also targeted a seaport in the Krasnodar region and an oil refinery in Russia's Volgograd Oblast.
"We continue to carry out long- and medium-range strikes on Russian infrastructure that is fueling their aggression," Zelensky wrote on X on Friday. "Our planned long-range punitive strikes are always legitimate responses aimed at stripping Russia's war machine of resources. We protect our people and will continue to act as necessary to achieve peace."
This is not the first time Ukraine has targeted Russian oil refineries, with the aim of causing severe fuel shortages nationwide. The attacks have forced Moscow, a major hydrocarbon producer, to start buying fuel from abroad. Ukraine has also disrupted Russian supply routes north of the Sea of Azov, causing severe fuel shortages and power outages in occupied Crimea.
Ukraine has recently intensified attacks on Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, while continuing strikes on energy facilities that have caused supply crises across much of Russia. Wildberries said that after being attacked on Thursday, it had paid the second tranche of financial support to nearly 100,000 sellers whose goods were damaged.
On the Russian side, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that its forces had struck a military cargo ship near the Ukrainian port of Odesa. The ministry also reported that Russian troops had pushed Ukrainian forces away from the settlement of Stinki in the Donetsk region and out of Virivka in Kharkiv Oblast.
The Russian Grain Exporters and Producers Union warned that the consequences of the fighting will affect many countries in the near future. Ukrainian strikes on maritime shipping in the Black Sea could lead to a complete blockade of grain export corridors in the coming period, causing food prices to rise and hitting developing countries hardest, according to Reuters. Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, and Ukraine, a major agricultural exporter, have repeatedly attacked each other's agricultural export facilities and vessels in the Black Sea region.
