On the night of 26 August 2024, Russians began attacking Ukraine with Shahed drones, and in the morning missiles joined in. Explosions were heard in Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, and Lviv oblasts, as well as in Kharkiv, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, and Kropyvnytskyi.
Near Kyiv, air defence hit about a dozen and a half missiles launched by Russia. In Poltava oblast, six people were injured. In Lutsk, a high-rise building was damaged and a man was killed. There were also fatalities as a result of the attack in Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr, and Sumy oblasts. Zhytomyr was left without electricity and water, and Vinnytsia was de-energised. There were power and water-supply disruptions in other cities as well. In the capital, emergency power outages were applied, and later Ukrenergo introduced them across all of Ukraine. In total, 15 oblasts of Ukraine were hit.
In Odesa oblast, Russians attacked energy and civilian infrastructure. The air-raid alert there lasted more than 4.5 hours, from 5:43 to 10:17. At around 8:36, explosions could be heard in Odesa.
According to police, seven people were injured as a result of a massive missile attack on Odesa oblast, three of them children. Two boys aged 10 and 7 and a 10-year-old girl were hospitalised.
The head of the Odesa Oblast Military Administration Oleh Kiper noted that during the shelling the Russians’ targets were the region’s energy and civilian infrastructure. Missile debris was also recorded falling, damaging private houses and a large number of vehicles. “All relevant services are eliminating the consequences of the Russian attack. Law enforcement officers are documenting the aftermath of yet another crime by the aggressor against the civilian population,” Kiper added.
There were power-supply disruptions in Odesa district. DTEK Odesa Electric Networks reported emergency power outages. Ukrzaliznytsia also reported delays to some trains heading in the Odesa direction.
According to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the morning attack was the most massive to date. In total, Ukrainian forces detected 236 aerial attack assets: 127 missiles and 109 strike drones. Of these, 102 missiles and 99 drones were shot down.
Ukraine is preparing a response to Russia for today’s massive shelling. This was stated by Ukraine’s Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov. “Ukraine is preparing its responses. Domestically produced weapons,” he wrote on Facebook. Umerov also emphasised that another massive attack once again proves that, to win, we need long-range capabilities and the lifting of restrictions on strikes against the enemy’s military facilities.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed, and to the injured.
“There is significant damage in the energy sector. But everywhere there are power outages, restoration work is already under way. Repair crews will work around the clock. We will restore the electricity,” he stressed.
This material was produced with the support of The Fritt Ord Foundation.
Worked on the material:
Topic researcher, text author: Vira Labych
Photo editor: Viacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary editor: Yuliia Futei
