Russia Strikes Odesa and Dnipro Overnight

Ukraine's Air Force reported 6,620 Shahed drones launched in the 24-hour period ending Friday, along with 277 guided aerial bombs, two ballistic missiles, and strikes from 83 separate Russian aircraft sorties. Air raid alerts reached most of Ukraine's oblasts simultaneously, a signature of Russia's tactic of saturating air defense networks with drone swarms to create gaps for higher-value munitions. Day 1,521 of Russia's full-scale invasion recorded 194 combat engagements along the front — the hottest sectors being Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian forces repelled 36 separate Russian assaults, and Huliaipole, which absorbed 26 attacks.

“Russian ground forces suffered an estimated 910 personnel killed in the 24 hours ending Friday, according to Ukraine's General Staff.”

Ukraine's Security Service announced on 25 April the detention of a GRU agent in Donetsk Oblast who had been preparing targeting coordinates for Russian strikes on the cities of Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka. The agent, whose identity was not disclosed, was caught before any coordinates were transmitted, according to the SBU statement.

Russian ground forces suffered an estimated 910 personnel killed in the 24 hours ending Friday, according to Ukraine's General Staff. Equipment losses reported for the same period included four tanks, four armored vehicles, 32 artillery systems, 1,175 unmanned aerial vehicles, and 129 wheeled vehicles — figures that, if accurate, represent a sustained attrition rate Ukrainian commanders have described as unsustainable for Moscow's mobilization base.

The overnight strikes came as President Volodymyr Zelensky was concluding diplomatic meetings in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. Zelensky met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on 24 April, his second visit in under a month, to advance what he described as a "comprehensive strategic agreement" covering exports of Ukrainian air defense expertise, energy cooperation, and food security. Ukraine had previously signed 10-year defense cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Jordan in late March 2026, and the Pentagon has deployed Ukraine's "Sky Map" drone-tracking command system at Prince Sultan Air Base, where Ukrainian specialists are training U.S. forces.

Moscow's approach to the battlefield has expanded beyond artillery and missiles. A report published Thursday by Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation, operating under the National Security and Defense Council, assessed that Russia has scaled AI-generated video and deepfake technology to what it called a "full-fledged cognitive warfare tool," with particular targeting of Ukrainian civilian morale in frontline cities. The assessment warns that the information dimension of the war has become as structurally important as drone attrition. As Russia's overnight strikes make clear, both dimensions are being pressed simultaneously.