Russia Launches 700 Drone and Missile Strikes on Ukraine... Civilian Casualties Widen

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Russia launched a large-scale airstrike across Ukraine immediately after the end of the Orthodox Easter ceasefire, resulting in numerous civilian casualties.

According to Yonhap News Agency and foreign media reports on April 16, Ukrainian authorities stated that Russia attacked at least six regions, including Kyiv, overnight using 659 drones and 44 missiles.

The Ukrainian military reported that it shot down 636 drones and 31 missiles out of the total, but the damage from the attacks was significant. Nationwide, at least 16 people were killed and more than 80 were injured, with civilian casualties continuing to mount.

In the capital Kyiv, a drone directly struck an apartment building, killing four people, including a 12-year-old child. Four emergency medical personnel who participated in rescue operations were also injured at the scene. In the southern region of Odesa, infrastructure and residential areas were targeted, resulting in nine deaths and around 20 injuries. In central Dnipropetrovsk, three people were killed, and in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, at least two people were reported injured.

On the same day, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported that Ukraine had launched 207 drones toward Russia.

Russia has greatly expanded the scale of its airstrikes as winter has passed. Attacks using two to three times more drones and missiles than usual have continued. On March 24, Russia launched over 800 weapons in a single day, and another airstrike was carried out during daytime hours on April 1.

The two sides had recently agreed to a 32-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Easter, but each side claimed the other violated the agreement, leading to renewed conflict and escalating tensions the moment the ceasefire ended.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asserted on social media that this attack demonstrates that Russia does not deserve any relaxation of international sanctions.

Meanwhile, as Russia’s offensive intensifies, Ukraine is facing mounting difficulties in defense due to declining stockpiles of air defense systems such as Patriot missiles, amid rising tensions in the Middle East.

President Zelensky is currently visiting Germany, Norway, and Italy this week to secure military and financial support. Germany has pledged a defense assistance package worth about 4 billion euros (approximately 7 trillion won), while Norway has also announced a plan to provide about 9 billion euros (approximately 15 trillion won) in support.

The peace talks between the two countries, which had been mediated by the United States, have effectively stalled due to the situation in the Middle East. As the U.S. focuses on negotiations with Iran, it is expected that resuming talks will not be easy in the near future.

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