A renewed wave of Russian drone and bomb attacks swept across Ukraine between Tuesday and Wednesday, resulting in the deaths of 13 people and injuring at least 41 others. This significant escalation follows closely on the heels of a three-day, US-brokered ceasefire that concluded late Monday, during which both sides reported numerous violations but no major aerial assaults. The latest offensive saw extensive damage to civilian infrastructure, while Ukraine also reported launching its own drone attacks on industrial facilities within Russian territory.

The central Dnipropetrovsk region bore the brunt of the recent assaults, with eight fatalities and eleven injuries reported on Tuesday alone. Among the casualties were two individuals in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih and six more in the Synelnykove district, southeast of the regional capital Dnipro, where over two dozen homes sustained damage. Further casualties included three deaths and four injuries in the Rivne region, an elderly man killed by a guided bomb in Zaporizhzhia, and one casualty in the eastern Donetsk region. Additionally, five people were injured in the Kharkiv region, and nine were wounded when a drone struck a passenger minibus in Kherson. President Zelensky stated that Russia launched 800 drones throughout the day, targeting 14 Ukrainian regions and specifically aiming at railway infrastructure and other civilian sites. Ukraine’s air force confirmed 139 drones were launched in a 24-hour period, with 111 intercepted but 20 resulting in direct hits across 13 locations.

Ukrainian military intelligence, Hur, warned that these strikes could be “protracted,” suggesting Russia might be deploying a substantial number of strike drones to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defense systems before potentially initiating massive missile strikes. Meanwhile, Russia also reported significant drone activity from Ukraine. The Russian defense ministry claimed to have intercepted 286 Ukrainian drones since Tuesday evening over 14 Russian regions and Crimea. Incidents included a fire at a gas processing plant in Astrakhan, triggered by falling drone debris, and damage to industrial facilities in the southern Krasnodar region and the city of Yaroslavl. Kyiv has asserted that its intensified strikes on Russian energy infrastructure are legitimate targets, aimed at hindering Moscow’s ongoing war efforts.