The aftermath of the Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Poltava, 1 February 2025. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
The Russian military launched a barrage of drone and ballistic missile strikes at civilian targets in Ukraine overnight, including a missile strike on a residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava that left three people dead, city mayors and regional governors have reported.
At least seven people were hospitalised after a missile strike on the historic centre of Odesa in southwestern Ukraine, according to regional Governor Oleg Kiper. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Norwegian diplomats had been among those who had found themselves at the epicentre of the strike, which, according to a Ukrainian military spokesperson, was carried out using Iskander-M missiles.
According to Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov, several historic buildings that make up part of the city’s UNESCO world heritage site were damaged, including four museums, the Odesa Philharmonic Theatre and the late-19th-century Bristol Hotel.
The wrecked façade of the Bristol Hotel in Odesa. Photo: Hennadiy Trukhanov / Telegram
The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said that other Russian drone and missile strikes had struck civilian targets in the cities of Kharkiv, Poltava and Zaporizhzhia overnight.
Zaporizhzhia Governor Ivan Fedorov said that at least 18 Shahed attack drones had been used in an attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, leaving one person injured.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that Russian Shahed drones had also struck Ukraine’s second city overnight, killing one person and injuring four others. According to Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov, over the past 24 hours, the Russian military used six missiles and 17 drones to attack the Kharkiv region.
A Russian drone and missile strike on the city of Poltava on Saturday morning killed three people and injured 10 others when a missile struck a residential building and started a fire, the Ukrainian state emergency service announced, adding that a rescue operation, which had already pulled some 21 people out from under the rubble, was continuing at the site.