Russian attacks kill three in Ukraine as Kyiv strikes refinery in Ufa

At least three people have been killed in overnight Russian attacks in southeastern Ukraine, while Kyiv says it has carried out new long-range drone strikes deep inside Russia. The latest exchange comes as both sides continue to target each other's energy and military infrastructure. The strikes were reported in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, with Ukraine also saying it hit a refinery in Ufa and another strategic facility in the Penza region.

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Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone attack on the Dnipropetrovsk region early on Wednesday killed a woman and damaged five petrol stations. Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said the attack also injured more than a dozen people. In a separate strike late on Tuesday in Zaporizhzhia, the capital of the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region, two people were killed, according to Ukrainian media reports.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine targeted an oil refinery in Ufa in southern Russia and what he described as a strategic facility belonging to Russia's military-industrial complex in the Penza region. He said the strikes were a "just response" to Russia's attacks and added that peace was needed. Russia, meanwhile, said a day earlier that it had shot down 419 Ukrainian drones over its territory, including in the Moscow region, where authorities said a six-month-old child was killed.

The latest attacks underline how the war has increasingly become a contest over long-range strike capability as well as front-line positions. Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks against Russian territory in recent months, seeking to disrupt fuel supplies, logistics and military production far from the battlefield. Russia's continued strikes on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure have kept pressure on civilian areas, particularly in the south and east of the country.

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The reported strike on the Ufa refinery is significant because energy infrastructure has become a central target in the war. Refineries and related facilities are important both for domestic fuel supply and for supporting military operations. The Penza region facility described by Zelenskyy as part of the military-industrial complex also points to Ukraine's effort to hit assets it sees as directly linked to Russia's war effort.

The fighting is taking place against a broader backdrop of stalled diplomacy and continued battlefield pressure. The Kremlin has said its position on a peace deal is unchanged from 2024, while Putin has repeated that Russia intends to keep control of the four Ukrainian regions it annexed in 2022. Ukraine has also moved to strengthen its air force, signing a contract with Sweden for 16 used Gripen E fighter jets, which are due to be transferred at the beginning of 2027.

It remains unclear how much damage was caused by the strikes in Russia, and Ukrainian officials have not given a full assessment of the impact of their drone campaign. Further details on casualties, infrastructure damage and any military response are likely to emerge later. The next developments to watch are whether Russia intensifies its own drone attacks and whether the latest strikes affect already fragile diplomatic efforts.

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