Russian forces carried out a massive drone and missile strike against Ukraine on the night of April 24-25. The strike was primarily aimed at the city of Dnipro, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. At least six civilians were killed and at least 47 others were injured. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces fired 47 missiles and 619 drones against Ukraine overnight. This is the fourth such Russian strike in April 2026.
This is what the "Institute for the Study of War" wrote (ISW).
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces fired 12 Iskander-M ballistic missiles/S-300 surface-to-air missiles; 29 Kh-101 cruise missiles; one Iskander-K cruise missile; five Kalibr cruise missiles; and 619 Shahed, Gerber, Italmas and other drones, of which approximately 400 were Shahed. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Ukrainian anti-aircraft forces had shot down 30 missiles and 580 drones, that 13 missiles and 36 drones had hit 23 sites, and that debris had fallen in nine locations as of 08:00 local time, but noted that the strikes were still ongoing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Russian strikes had also hit the Chernihiv, Odessa and Kharkiv regions.
The head of the military administration of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Oleksandr Khanzha, reported that Russian missile and drone strikes on the city of Dnipro had lasted for over 20 hours.
The mayor of the city of Dnipro, Boris Filatov, said that Russian forces had carried out a double strike on first aid teams and Ukrainian civil servants responding to the impact of Russian strikes on an apartment building in the city of Dnipro.
Russian forces are still are increasingly using strike tactics, launching massive wave strikes to wear down Ukrainian air defenses.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said on April 17 that Russia was preparing to conduct large-scale strikes with at least 400 drones and 20 missiles at a frequency of seven times a month.
The deputy head of the Main Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR), Major General Vadim Skibytsky, recently said that Russia aims to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure and shape the battlefield for Russia's spring-summer offensive in 2026.
Ukrainian forces may have carried out drone strikes against Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, and the city of Chelyabinsk - about 1,600 to 1,700 kilometers from the international border. Geolocated video footage released on April 25 shows smoke and damage to a residential building in Yekaterinburg after a reported strike by a Ukrainian drone.
The Kremlin's TASS news agency said Ukrainian forces may have used a long-range FP-1 drone launched from Kharkiv Oblast in the strike on Yekaterinburg.
A geolocated video footage released on April 25 shows a plume of smoke near the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant in Chelyabinsk Oblast, and a Ukrainian source said local residents reported explosions in the area.
Chelyabinsk Oblast Governor Alexei Teksler said on April 25 that Russian forces had repelled a strike by a Ukrainian drone against unspecified infrastructure in the region without causing damage.
A Russian blogger has called on Russia to increase air defenses near the Urals now and not wait for Ukrainian forces to attack Russian targets more regularly. defense industrial bases in the area.
Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu also acknowledged in March 2026 that increasingly effective Ukrainian long-range drone strikes had turned the Urals into a "zone of imminent threat".
Russian officials and bloggers have accused the Russian leadership of failing to protect Russian military infrastructure from Ukrainian drone strikes.
A prominent, Kremlin-backed Russian ultranationalist blogger has begun spreading the idea that Russians should prepare for possible future calls to the reserve in order to bolster Russia's force generation mechanisms. The founder of the Russian ultranationalist blogger channel "Ribar", Mikhail Zvinchuk, gave an interview to the host of Russia's "Channel One" Anatoly Kuzichev on April 21, in which Kuzichev asked Zvinchuk whether Russia would conduct further mobilization.
Zvinchuk responded that the Russian military command generally believes that mobilization is necessary not because of a shortage of human resources, but because Russian military units have low cohesion. Zvinchuk argued that Russia's recruitment campaign is going well, so Russia does not need to recruit more personnel, but that poor cohesion contributes to disorganization, which leads to high personnel casualties. Zvinchuk claimed that up to 80 percent of Russia's personnel casualties in 2025 were among volunteers and contract soldiers who operated in small assault groups and were sent on missions "on the move".