Overnight Strikes Bring New Casualties and Fires
At least three people were killed and more than 10 injured in Ukraine in the latest wave of Russian strikes, officials said early Saturday. Firefighters battled a blaze at a market in Kyiv's Darnytskyi district after the capital came under missile and drone attack. Ukraine's air force reported shooting down three Russian missiles and nearly 100 drones.
In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, regional head Ivan Fedorov said two people died when a Russian guided aerial bomb destroyed a house. Authorities in Dnipropetrovsk reported one person killed and 14 injured. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least six people, including a child, were injured in the capital, where air-raid sirens sounded four times overnight.
The attacks followed a particularly deadly Friday, when a Russian drone strike on a shopping center in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih killed 16 people and wounded more than 130, including 23 children. Regional military governor Oleksandr Ganzha said rescue operations continued through the night, with nine people still missing, including two children. Some reports described the Kryvyi Rih attack as a "double-tap" strike, with a second explosion timed to hit first responders—a tactic that has drawn widespread condemnation.
Ukraine's Drone Campaign Reaches Moscow's Suburbs
While Russian forces continued their aerial onslaught, Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, reported that about 600 Ukrainian drones were launched toward the Russian capital overnight. He said roughly a third were destroyed and that three people were injured. A warehouse belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, was hit in the town of Koledino, about 25 kilometers from the Kremlin. Video footage showed flames and thick smoke rising from the facility.
Ukraine has said little about the strikes, but the attack on the Wildberries warehouse fits a pattern Kyiv has embraced since July. President Zelenskyy said the goal of the long-range drone campaign is "to bring the war back home – to Russia." He has described Wildberries as a legitimate target because it has been "used by the aggressor to ensure the supply of sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment." Russian soldiers reportedly use the platform to purchase equipment that supplements their military supplies.
Ukrainian lawmaker Maryana Bezuhla, a frequent critic of the government, was blunt about the strategy: "Russia's logistics system is used to wage the war of aggression against Ukraine." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Wildberries handles military supplies but conceded that "the situation is indeed difficult" for the company.
Rising Civilian Toll on Both Sides
United Nations data cited in multiple reports shows that civilian casualties in Ukraine this year have reached their highest level since the first months of the full-scale invasion. The U.N. has verified at least 16,874 Ukrainian civilians killed since 2022, including 820 children. Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council that Russia has shown "a clear pattern" of targeting urban centers with large civilian populations, while also warning that "any attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur, are a clear violation of international humanitarian law."
Russian civilian casualties inside Russia have also risen sharply as Ukraine expands its drone campaign. According to U.N. figures, Ukrainian attacks killed 253 civilians in Russia in 2025, a number the U.N. said it could not independently verify. Russian authorities reported 79 civilian deaths and 601 injuries in July alone.
Ukrainian officials increasingly view Russian civilian casualties as an acceptable cost of taking the war deeper into enemy territory, a stance that has alarmed some European allies. A presidential aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, dismissed concerns, saying, "You are helping Russia by pushing this civilian stuff." Jaroslava Barbieri, a Ukraine expert at Chatham House, said Ukrainian strikes have not deliberately targeted civilian districts and that any civilian deaths are collateral damage, while acknowledging the ethical dilemma.
Russian officials have consistently denied that their forces intentionally target civilians. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused Ukraine of deploying troops near civilian infrastructure. Russian authorities have also released casualty figures for Ukrainian strikes, though these numbers have not been independently verified.
War of Attrition Continues as Diplomacy Stalls
Both sides show little sign of stepping back from the escalating tit-for-tat. Ukraine has repeatedly appealed to its allies for more air-defense systems, particularly to counter ballistic missiles, while Russia has intensified its aerial attacks across Ukrainian cities in recent weeks.
Ukraine's expanded drone campaign is partly designed to pressure Moscow into negotiations, but diplomatic efforts remain stalled. Russia has demanded sweeping territorial and political concessions, which President Zelenskyy has ruled out, calling such terms an "effective capitulation" that would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attacks.
Adrian Karatnycky, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, said European officials are increasingly alarmed by Ukraine's new tactics, though he noted that Kyiv's ability to strike back is a relatively new development. Tim Willasey-Wilsey, a former British diplomat, cautioned that bombing civilians tends to harden resistance, but added, "you cannot wage war without casualties."
As the conflict grinds into another year, the human cost on both sides continues to mount—and no end appears in sight.