Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region came under a “massive attack” in the early hours of Saturday, its governor Sergiy Lysak confirmed.
Explosions were reported in the cities of Dnipro and Pavlograd, with Lysak stating on Telegram: “The region is under a massive attack. Explosions are being heard.” He added that two people were killed overnight on Friday in Russian strikes targeting the region.
Dnipropetrovsk, long considered a strategic industrial hub of central Ukraine, had been relatively spared from large-scale fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022. However, the security situation has worsened dramatically.
Earlier this week, Kyiv acknowledged that Russian troops had entered parts of the region, following Moscow’s claim that its forces had secured a foothold there. Unlike Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea, Dnipropetrovsk is not among the territories that Russia has formally declared as its own.
The escalation comes shortly after Ukrainian drones reportedly struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai overnight on August 30.
According to the Kyiv Independent, residents reported explosions around 2:30 a.m. local time, with videos on social media showing a large fire blazing at the site.
Krasnodar Krai, located east of Crimea across the Kerch Strait, is a critical hub for Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine and the Black Sea. The region has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drones aiming to disrupt Russian fuel supplies and logistics.
Ukraine’s military has not officially commented on the refinery strike, but Kyiv has consistently targeted Russian energy and military infrastructure throughout the war.
The twin developments — Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside Russian territory and Russia’s intensified assault on Dnipropetrovsk — signal a widening conflict zone, pushing the war deeper into previously less-affected areas of Ukraine.
