Russian forces carried out a series of strikes on the town of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region early on Friday, Aug. 22, using aerial bombs and attack drones.
According to local authorities, the attacks lasted several hours and caused extensive destruction to civilian infrastructure.
Damage was reported to private houses, multi-apartment buildings, the Ukrposhta office, and a gas pipeline. The Russians employed first-person-view (FPV) drones and FAB-250 aerial bombs.
Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration (OVA), wrote on Telegram:
“One person was injured in Kostyantynivka. Twenty-one high-rise buildings, a private house, five administrative buildings, three outbuildings, a shop, a shopping center, 30 market stalls, an infrastructure facility, and three gas pipelines were damaged.”
Kostyantynivka, located near the front line in the Donetsk region, is under constant attack. The town has repeatedly been targeted with bombs, missiles, and drones.
On Aug. 20, a Russian missile strike on the town’s market killed three people and injured four more. A day earlier, on Aug.. 19, two powerful air strikes hit the town, one of them striking the entrance of a residential building, leaving rescuers to search for people trapped under the rubble.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Air Force reported that from 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21 to the morning of Friday, Aug. 22, Russia launched 55 Shahed attack drones and various decoy drones across the country.
“The air attack was repelled by anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare and unmanned systems units, and mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine,” the Air Force said.
By 9 a.m., Ukrainian defenses had shot down or suppressed 46 of the drones in northern and eastern regions. However, nine UAVs managed to strike four locations the Air Force reported.