Russian drone and missile strikes kill civilians across Ukraine, hit medical facilities in Kherson

Russian forces have intensified drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities over the past week, killing at least five civilians and injuring dozens more, with strikes hitting medical facilities, residential buildings, and a shopping centre that has been closed since 2022.

The attacks, concentrated on Kherson, Kharkiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Sloviansk between 26 and 31 August, follow a pattern of deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure, Ukrainian officials say. The deadliest single incident occurred on 28 August, when a Russian guided bomb killed a 61-year-old lorry driver in Sumy and injured seven others, four of whom remain hospitalised (Ukrainska Pravda).

Medical facilities deliberately struck

On 29 August, a Russian drone hit a medical facility in central Kherson, injuring a 57-year-old man (Ukrainska Pravda). Two days later, on 31 August, another drone struck the grounds of a healthcare facility in the same city, injuring two staff members — a 69-year-old woman and a 62-year-old man, both suffering concussion and blast injuries (Ukrainska Pravda).

Kherson has been under near-constant drone attack since 26 August. On the evening of 26 August, four people including a 10-year-old boy were injured in separate drone strikes on the Dniprovskyi and Korabelnyi districts (Ukrainska Pravda). The following morning, a man cycling in the Korabelnyi district was killed instantly by a drone strike (Ukrainska Pravda). On 29 August, another man was killed in the same district, and a 44-year-old resident sustained shrapnel wounds and an open foot fracture (Ukrainska Pravda). The Kherson Oblast Military Administration reported that on 28 August alone, one person was killed and 26 injured across the oblast, including a child. Seven multi-storey buildings, 15 houses, a gas pipeline, a shop and ambulances were damaged (Ukrainska Pravda).

Mass drone and missile barrage

On the night of 26-27 August, Russia launched 258 drones and missiles, including ballistic missiles and anti-ship missiles, aimed primarily at Odesa, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. Ukraine’s Air Force reported downing 233 of them — seven ballistic missiles, one Oniks anti-ship missile, three S8000 Banderol drones and 222 UAVs. Hits were recorded at 15 locations, and debris fell at 11 sites, including in Kyiv’s Podilskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts (Ukrainska Pravda).

In Kharkiv, a drone struck the balcony of a third-floor apartment in the Industrialnyi District overnight, injuring a 30-year-old man (Ukrainska Pravda). On 28 August, a jet-powered drone hit the Karavan shopping centre in Kharkiv’s Kyivskyi district, which has been closed since 2022. The attack caused a large fire over 150 square metres; no casualties were reported. The centre’s management said Russian forces had struck the building more than 10 times since the full-scale war began (Ukrainska Pravda).

Zaporizhzhia and Sumy under daily strikes

In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a 78-year-old woman was killed by an FPV drone in the village of Hryhorivka on 27 August (Ukrainska Pravda). The same day, an FPV drone struck a civilian vehicle in Zaporizhzhia city, wounding two men with shrapnel and blast injuries (Ukrainska Pravda).

Sumy endured a second day of heavy strikes on 28 August, when two missiles hit an industrial area in the Zarichnyi district, injuring seven people, one seriously. The strike set utility buildings and vehicles on fire (Ukrainska Pravda). Earlier that day, a guided bomb had killed the lorry driver and damaged the Nova Poshta terminal.

On 31 August, a FAB-500 aerial bomb struck a multi-storey building in Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast, destroying the stairwell from ground to fourth floor and damaging 32 multi-storey buildings, a hotel, a kindergarten and cars. Four people were injured (Ukrainska Pravda).

Railways disrupted, Warsaw detentions

The repeated attacks have also disrupted rail services. Ukrainian Railways reported that trains from Kharkiv, Sumy, Kyiv, Dnipro and Lviv faced significant delays; the Kharkiv–Chełm train ran 11.5 hours late, and the Sumy–Kyiv train was 17 hours late. The company said delays would persist for at least another day (Ukrainska Pravda).

Separately, Polish authorities detained three Russian nationals of Chechen origin in Warsaw on 27 August, seizing three firearms. The 42-year-old suspect has been remanded in custody for three months on organised crime charges. The arrests come amid heightened security concerns following the killing of a Russian artist critical of Putin in Poland in June (Ukrainska Pravda).

Strategic implications

The sustained drone and missile campaign against Ukrainian cities — particularly the repeated targeting of medical facilities — underscores Russia’s willingness to strike civilian infrastructure far from the front line. Ukrainian air defence continues to intercept a high percentage of incoming weapons, but the sheer volume of attacks, combined with the use of decoys and ballistic missiles, means some get through. The disruption to rail networks also highlights the broader economic toll of the war, as delays affect supply chains and passenger travel across the country.