Russia launches massive drone and missile barrage on Ukraine, killing three civilians

Moscow unleashed one of the largest aerial assaults of the war on the night of 26–27 August, firing 258 drones and several missiles across Ukraine. Ukrainian air defences downed 233 aerial assets, but the scale of the attack still penetrated civilian areas, killing three people and injuring several others, including a child.

Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russian forces launched two Oniks anti-ship missiles from occupied Crimea, Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles from Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk oblasts, and 258 Shahed-type attack drones (roughly a third of them jet-powered), Gerbera drones, S8000 Banderol drones and Parodiya decoys. The drones were launched from Kursk, Millerovo, Oryol and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, as well as from occupied Donetsk and Hvardiiske in Crimea. The main targets were Odesa, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Zaporizhzhia oblasts Source: Ukrainska Pravda.

As of 09:00 on 27 August, Ukrainian air defence had shot down or jammed one Oniks missile, seven Iskander/KN-23 ballistic missiles, three S8000 Banderol drones and 222 UAVs of various types. Hits were recorded at 15 locations, and debris from downed assets fell at 11 sites. The Air Force added that some Russian weapons failed to reach their targets and that the attack was still ongoing, with several UAVs remaining in Ukrainian airspace.

Civilian deaths and injuries

Three civilians were killed in the strikes on 27 August. In the Zaporizhzhia district, a Russian FPV drone killed a 78-year-old woman in the village of Hryhorivka. Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration, said: “Russia is cynically terrorising and killing civilians in the oblast, once again proving that it is a terrorist state” Source: Ukrainska Pravda.

In Kherson, a man riding a bicycle on a street in the Korabelnyi district was killed instantly by a drone strike at around 06:40. The Kherson Oblast Prosecutor’s Office and Kherson City Military Administration head Yaroslav Shanko confirmed the death. “His identity and age are currently being established. Our sincere condolences to his family and loved ones,” Shanko said Source: Ukrainska Pravda.

These deaths came after a wave of evening attacks on Kherson on 26 August. At around 18:30, a drone attack on Kherson’s Dniprovskyi district injured three people: a 19-year-old woman and two men aged 34 and 33. Later, at 20:10, Russian forces struck a car with a drone in the Korabelnyi district, injuring a 10-year-old boy. He sustained blast injuries and cuts to his head and back and was taken to hospital in a moderate condition Source: Ukrainska Pravda.

Damage in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities

In the capital, drone debris fell in the courtyard of a residential building in the Podilskyi district and on the grounds of an educational institution in the Shevchenkivskyi district. The Kyiv City Military Administration said casualty and damage assessments were ongoing Source: Ukrainska Pravda.

In Kharkiv, a Russian drone struck the balcony of a third-floor apartment in a high-rise residential building in the Industrialnyi District overnight. A 30-year-old man suffered shock and was treated by medics, according to Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration head Oleh Syniehubov Source: Ukrainska Pravda.

Two people were also injured in a Russian missile attack on Kryvyi Rih during the same period, though details of that strike remain limited.

Why this matters

This latest barrage is part of a pattern: Russia is using large numbers of relatively cheap drones to saturate Ukrainian air defences, often pairing them with ballistic and cruise missiles to complicate interception. The sustained targeting of residential areas, even with small drones, reflects a deliberate strategy of terrorising the civilian population. For Ukraine, the high interception rate – 233 of 258 aerial assets – shows that its air defence network remains effective, but the sheer volume of attacks means some will always get through. The ongoing nature of the assault, with UAVs still airborne as of mid-morning, underscores the need for continued Western supply of air defence systems and munitions.