Overview
- Ukraine’s General Staff reported 163 engagements Friday, with the heaviest fighting on the Pokrovsk, Kostyantynivka and Gulyaypole axes.
- Russia launched 44 airstrikes and dropped 159 guided bombs as the military also used 3,835 kamikaze drones and carried out 2,658 shellings of towns and positions, according to the evening update.
- Ukrainian drones hit oil terminals in Russia’s Leningrad region for a third straight night Friday, and Reuters and independent analysts say the strikes have sidelined about 40% of export capacity as new fires flared at Ust-Luga; the Primorsk and Ust-Luga Baltic hubs load a large share of crude, so damage there stalls tankers and delays shipments.
- The UN human rights office warned of a near-doubling in civilian casualties from drone attacks in early 2026, a trend echoed by fresh reports of injuries in Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions after strikes on homes, a clinic and public buildings.
- Ukraine said it hit a Russian Valdai counter-drone radar near Hvardiiske in occupied Crimea and a Forpost drone control site near Yevpatoria, moves meant to blind and disrupt the systems that guide small unmanned aircraft.