At least five people were killed and 36 injured in an overnight Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine on Friday, authorities said. Another “close to 20” animals died at a veterinary clinic that caught fire after being struck.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service published photographs and video showing rescuers extinguishing the blaze and trying to save animals at the Dr. Buryak clinic in Chabany, 13 miles south of the capital. In one scene, they perform CPR on a dog.
“Rescuers fought for every life—they carried out an emergency evacuation of four-legged animals from the damaged building, administered oxygen to the injured, and tried to stabilize the condition of wounded patients,” the service said.
But “all the animals were killed—the strike hit the inpatient ward and the intensive care unit,” a veterinarian at the clinic told the animal rights organization UAnimals.
A woman tries to assist a dog injured in a Russian strike on a veterinary clinic in Chabany.
Such attacks have become routine in recent months—the Kremlin has been striking Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and energy facilities. With peace talks dragging on and international attention shifting to the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, the assaults have grown more prolonged. Last week, Russia launched about 1,000 drones at Ukraine in a single day—the largest one-day attack since the full-scale invasion began more than four years ago, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday that it had carried out a “massive strike” using “high-precision long-range air-and ground-based weapons” and “attack drones” against “Ukraine’s military-industrial and energy facilities that support their operations.” The ministry described the attack as “retaliation for Ukraine’s terrorist strikes on civilian targets.”
In recent weeks, Ukrainian forces have struck Russian oil and gas facilities—a key source of revenue for Russia’s military. According to Kyiv, Ust-Luga—one of Russia’s main ports on the Baltic Sea—has been attacked five times since Tuesday. Reuters estimated last week that those strikes, pipeline damage and sanctions on the “shadow fleet” had cut Russian oil exports by 40%.
The attack on Ukraine began at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday and continued until Friday morning, authorities said.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, 26 of 37 missiles and 515 of 542 drones were shot down.
According to officials, one person was killed in Kyiv, two in the northeastern city of Sumy, and one in the western city of Zhytomyr. In the southern city of Kherson, nine people were injured when a strike hit a shuttle minibus. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, attacks have continued for a second day and have become some of the most intense of the war—one person was killed there and seven others were wounded.