Damage at the site of a missile strike that hit an administrative building of a non-working bank in Odesa, southwestern Ukraine, 25 November 2024, amid the Russian invasion. At least 10 people were injured as a result of a missile strike that hit Odesa on 25 November morning, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) reported. Russian troops launched 145 'shock' drones across Ukraine overnight and several ballistic missiles to Odesa and Kharkiv in the morning, according to the Air Force Command of Ukraine. Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory on 24 February 2022, starting a conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis. EPA-EFE/IGOR TKACHENKO Intensified nightly drone attacks on Ukrainian cities are coinciding with a major push by Russia along frontlines in Ukraine's east, where Russian forces have made some of the largest monthly territorial gains since 2022.
Of 188 drones used overnight, Ukraine shot down 76 and lost track of 96, likely due to active electronic warfare, the air force said. Five drones headed towards Belarus.
"The enemy launched a record number of Shahed attack UAVs and unidentified drones ...," it said. Russia uses cheaply-produced "suicide" drones and low-cost "decoy" drones, which tie up Ukrainian air defences.
"Unfortunately, there were hits to critical infrastructure facilities, and private and apartment buildings were damaged in several regions due to the massive drone attack," an air force statement said, adding that no casualties had been reported.
The attack damaged the power grid in Ternopil, a major city in western Ukraine, and cut power to around 70% of the region, governor Vyacheslav Nehoda said on national television.
Ternopil, some 220 km (134 miles) east of NATO-member Poland, and the surrounding region had a population of more than a million before the February 2022 Russian invasion, which drove many Ukrainians west.
"The consequences are bad because the facility was significantly affected and this will have impact on the power supply of the entire region for a long time," Nehoda said.
The attack also cut off water and disrupted heat supplies, the head of the regional defence headquarters Serhiy Nadal said via the Telegram messaging app.
Nehoda said the emergency services had mostly restored the water supply by morning and the local authorities were planning to introduce planned power cuts in the attack's aftermath.
Electric buses that service the city will be replaced with regular buses and generators will help with power shortages in schools, hospitals and government institutions, Nadal said.
Russia also targeted the capital Kyiv overnight, the military administration of the city said on Telegram, adding that air defence units destroyed more than 10 Russian drones.
Falling debris damaged four private residences, two high-rise apartment buildings, two garages and a car in the region surrounding the capital, its governor Ruslan Kravchenko said.
The drones approached Kyiv in waves and from different directions, but there was no damage or injuries in the city, Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration said on Telegram.
Most of Ukraine was under overnight air raid alert for hours, air force data showed.
(Reporting by Valentyn Ogirenko, Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Philippa Fletcher)