Russian forces launched fresh attacks on civilian infrastructure and vehicles in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions on Sunday, April 19, resulting in further casualties.
In Kherson, a Russian drone targeted a civilian car at approximately 07:00 a.m. The Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported that a 56-year-old man was killed in the strike, while a 41-year-old passenger sustained injuries. Prosecutors have opened a war crimes investigation under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Simultaneously, the village of Balabyne in the Zaporizhzhia region was struck by guided aerial bombs (KABs).
Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, confirmed that three women – aged 59, 63, and 85 – were wounded. While all three received immediate medical assistance and are being treated as outpatients, the strike caused significant damage to private homes, garages, and vehicles.
These southern attacks were part of a major day of aerial violence across the country. Earlier on Sunday, a 16-year-old boy was killed during a drone strike in Chernihiv, where Russian UAVs damaged seven homes and several administrative buildings. The Ukrainian Air Force reported intercepting 203 out of 236 drones launched overnight, though 32 strike UAVs managed to hit targets across 18 separate locations.
The persistent targeting of residential areas follows a brutal Saturday, April 18, which saw an FPV drone strike a minibus in the Nikopol district and a targeted attack on a fire station in the Sumy region.
With Chernihiv still recovering from a massive power outage that affected 380,000 residents just a day prior, regional authorities remain on high alert as Russian forces continue to utilize a variety of strike drones and guided munitions against non-military targets.