On May 18, a wave of Russian attacks that Ukrainian officials described as involving drones, airstrikes and shelling struck several cities across Ukraine overnight, killing one person and injuring more than 30, according to regional authorities.
In the southern port city of Odesa - a major Black Sea export hub - local officials said drones struck residential buildings and also hit a school and a kindergarten. Serhiy Lysak, head of the local military administration, reported on the messaging app Telegram that an 11-year-old boy and a 59-year-old man were among those injured in the attack.
In a separate strike on the southeastern city of Dnipro, officials said missile fire wounded 18 people, including two children - a two-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy. Oleksandr Hanzha, the regional governor, reported the injuries on Telegram.
Further east, in the Zaporizhzhia region, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said three people were injured following the overnight attacks. In the southern Kherson region, governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported one fatality and nine people injured as a result of the attacks.
Across the border in Russia, authorities said drones were intercepted and downed overnight over southern regions including Rostov and Belgorod. That report cited the Russian defence ministry.
Officials also said that at least four people died over the weekend in Russia, three of them in the Moscow region, after Ukraine launched what was described by officials as its biggest overnight drone attack on the Russian capital in more than a year. Independent verification of battlefield reports was not possible.
Both sides deny deliberately targeting civilians, according to the statements released by regional and national officials.
Context and immediate effects
Local authorities in multiple Ukrainian regions provided the casualty counts and damage descriptions on messaging platforms, indicating strikes on civilian structures in a major export port and injuries among children in urban areas. Reports from Russian regions indicated defensive actions against incoming drones, while weekend deaths in and around Moscow followed a significant drone attack on the capital earlier in the week.
The situation remains fluid and details continue to be updated by regional authorities.