Russia targeted Sumy-Kharkiv-Dnipro line, killing 2 in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and injuring civilians in other regions

Russian forces killed two people and injured five others in a large-scale combined attack on the city of Dnipro and the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on the night of July 25-26, 2025, sparking fires and causing widespread damage, according to Serhii Lysak, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration. 

“A terrible night. A large-scale combined attack on the oblast. Early reports indicate that seven missiles and 26 UAVs were downed by our air defenders. This was reported by the Air Command. Sadly, there were hits, too,” Lysak wrote. 

The strikes affected a high-rise building and damaged industrial facilities. Fires broke out, including in a car park.

The attack killed one person in the Dnipro District and injured another four, Lysak said.

Russian forces also launched guided bombs on the Pokrovske hromada — a local government area that includes one or more nearby settlements – in the Synelnykove District, causing a fire.

According to Lysak, an FPV drone struck the Pokrovska hromada in the Nikopol District. Russian military also attacked the Marhanets hromada.

The Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported that  Russian attacks injured three people in the Shostka hromada in the Sumy Oblast this night. 

Medical teams hospitalized two women and one man with burns and shrapnel wounds, aged 57, 56 and 51, local authorities reported.

Russian forces attacked the Shostka hromada with drones and guided aerial bombs and launched a missile strike from midnight until morning, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration stated.

The combined strike set four houses on fire and damaged several high-rise buildings and infrastructure facilities.

Local authorities also reported that a 24-year-old man who suffered injuries during a Russian UAV strike on the town of Putyvl on July 21 died in hospital.

An FPV drone strike on the Esman hromada injured a 42-year-old woman.

Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Moscow launched an attack using 235 aerial assets – 208 UAVs and 27 missiles, including 12 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, eight Iskander-K cruise missiles, and seven Kh-59/69 air-to-surface missiles.

Ukrainian forces downed or suppressed in total 183 UAVs and 17 missiles with electronic warfare.

Ten missiles and 25 UAVs struck nine locations, and debris from downed weapons fell in eight locations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to Russian attacks on Ukraine on the night of July 25-26 after he received a report from the Minister of Internal Affairs on the morning of July 26.

“Overnight, Russian forces launched a combined strike – missiles, including ballistic ones, and drones. The attack targeted the Sumy-Kharkiv-Dnipro line. Such strikes certainly cannot be left without response, and Ukrainian long-range drones ensure one. Russian military enterprises, Russian logistics, and Russian airfields must see that Russia’s own war is now hitting them back with real consequences,” the president stated on X. 

A day earlier, Zelenskyy informed journalists that “certain steps and operations on Russian territory” have prompted Russia to begin discussing a meeting at the leader level.

“We need the war to end, and that begins, most likely, with a meeting between leaders. There is no other way with them. There needs to be an agenda for such a meeting – a meeting at the leader level. […] We always raise this issue publicly. And now they have started talking about it in their conversations with us. This is already a move towards some kind of meeting format,” he said.

Zelenskyy believes that certain steps and operations on Russian territory have changed Russia’s attitude towards the idea of a leaders’ meeting.

“Apart from the negotiation processes, dialogue and diplomacy, a lot of things have also taken place on their territory. You’ve seen this,” the president noted.

He also reiterated that negotiators in Istanbul, Türkiye, reached an agreement on key issues during the last round of talks, including the exchange of 1,200 prisoners of war and the return of political prisoners and journalists.

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“We have started working on the lists. Now this is the political prisoner and journalist category. And you know that we cannot exchange civilians; civilians are supposed to be released by them [by the Russians]. That’s why we are now looking for a format regarding the lists – both from our side and from theirs,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.