Russia-Ukraine War Escalates as Kyiv Petrol Stations Hit by Drones

Russia and Ukraine exchanged a fresh wave of deadly drone strikes on Friday, with Russian attacks hitting petrol stations and other targets in Kyiv while Ukrainian drones struck several locations inside Russia.

Two people were killed when Russian jet-powered drones attacked two petrol stations in the Ukrainian capital early Friday, according to Ukrainian officials. The strikes marked another escalation in attacks that have increasingly disrupted daily life in Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia’s use of faster jet-powered Shahed drones was becoming “increasingly terrorist in nature.” Ukraine and Russia both deny deliberately targeting civilians during the conflict, which began with Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

At least three additional people were killed in Russian strikes in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions, according to local authorities. Twelve people, including a 12-year-old boy, were also injured in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

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The Russia-Ukraine war has increasingly seen both sides target logistics, fuel supplies and economic infrastructure as battlefield advances remain largely stalled. Kyiv has sought to strike facilities supporting Russia’s war effort, while Moscow has intensified attacks on Ukrainian energy, transport and commercial infrastructure.

Friday’s attacks came a day after what appeared to be the first Russian strike on a petrol station in Kyiv. Ukrainian officials said Russia has attacked roughly 300 petrol stations in recent months, particularly in areas close to the front line.

Ukrnafta chief executive Bohdan Kukura said there was no military justification for the attacks on petrol stations, describing them as strikes that terrorised civilians.

Russia also targeted a building used by Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, according to Zelenskiy. The company said its network continued operating despite the strike. An attack on a residential building in Kyiv also injured eight people overnight, while a woman was killed in the surrounding Kyiv region.

In Dnipropetrovsk, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha reported one death and 19 injuries following Russian attacks, with most of the casualties recorded in the city of Dnipro. A separate Russian assault on Zaporizhzhia killed one person, while a drone strike on Kharkiv also left one person dead.

Ukrainian forces meanwhile carried out their own drone attacks across Russia. Officials in the Tula region said two people were killed and three injured overnight, while Russia’s Kursk governor reported the death of a 37-year-old man following a Ukrainian drone strike.

A Ukrainian drone also caused a fire at an Ozon logistics hub in Saratov, according to the Russian e-commerce company. Ukraine’s military said it had struck an oil refinery in the same region.

Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces also hit an enterprise and an oil-related facility in Russia’s Saratov and Volgograd regions, along with other unnamed targets and locations in the Black Sea.

Further casualties were reported in Russia’s Belgorod region, where local officials said one person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack. The Moscow-appointed administration in occupied parts of Donetsk also reported that two employees of a local gas company were killed in a drone strike.

The latest attacks underline how the conflict is increasingly extending beyond traditional front-line battles. Ukraine has targeted Russian refineries, online retailers, energy facilities and fuel logistics, while Russia continues to launch large-scale strikes against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

With neither side securing a decisive breakthrough on the battlefield, attacks on economic and logistical targets are becoming an increasingly important part of the wider war.