Russia and Ukraine exchanged overnight strikes that killed at least seven civilians and injured dozens more, according to local authorities. The attacks targeted the Russian border region of Belgorod and Ukrainian cities Kharkiv and Odesa.
In Belgorod, Ukrainian drones killed five people and injured two dozen, including a child, the regional administration reported. A woman walks past a bank building damaged during a Ukrainian overnight drone attack on Sunday, August 9, 2026, in Belgorod, Russia.
Russian missiles hit a high-rise apartment block in Kharkiv's Saltivskyi district, killing two people and injuring 13, according to regional head Oleh Syniehubov. Eight more were injured in Odesa, a Ukrainian Black Sea port city, after what local administration head Oleh Kiper described as “dozens of missiles and drones” struck the city and its surrounding region.
These strikes come as Russia has intensified missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, a pattern attributed in part to Ukraine's critical shortage of interceptors for U.S.-made Patriot systems, its only defense against ballistic missiles. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly urged allies, particularly the United States, to provide more Patriot systems, which have been depleted due to the ongoing Iran war.
Kyiv has also pursued long-range drone strikes against Russian energy infrastructure and other targets deep within Russia, contributing to a fuel crisis. Russia's defense ministry claimed its overnight strikes targeted drone warehouses in the Kharkiv region and fuel depots in Odesa, as well as other military materiel. The ministry also stated that its forces intercepted 153 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over Russian-occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov seas.
In Russia's Belgorod region, authorities reported that Ukrainian drone strikes damaged 29 apartment blocks, five private homes, administrative buildings, and commercial facilities.