Russia fires dozens of drones at targets across Ukraine

Russia launched at least 61 drones over Ukraine on the night of 24-25 January, whilst Ukrainian forces confirmed to have downed 46 of the drones and two Russian missiles launched from aircraft.

Some of the regions the drones were downed in included Odesa, Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, according to local media.

Explosions could be heard in the Kyiv region causing damage to the towns of Vyshneve and a settlement in the Fastiv district.

A nine-story residential building in Vyshneve, which was partially occupied, was hit. Emergency crews rescued five residents, including two children. No injuries or fatalities were reported.

The affected building, a newly constructed high-rise, saw balconies from the fourth to the eighth floor destroyed, window frames shattered, and the ceiling of a staircase in one entrance collapsed.

A team of 42 rescuers using seven specialised vehicles, inspected the building’s entrances and dismantled unsafe structures. According to the regional military administration, neighbouring buildings also sustained damage.

Rescue operations have been bolstered by the use of drones to assess the extent of the destruction and aid in clearing debris.

"Thank God, everyone is alive,” Volodymyr, a representative of the building’s residents, said, adding he hoped the building could be repaired quickly. “I think we’ll restore everything within a month at most, once we have the expert’s opinion."

Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed on Friday that its troops had fought their way into the centre of Velyka Novosilka, a strategically important town in the Donetsk region and raised the Russian flag there after a months-long battle.

Russian troops are slowly closing in on the strategic town of Pokrovsk, which serves as a supply hub and is located at an important intersection of multiple supply highways leading to key cities within Donetsk region.