Deadliest Ukraine barrage reported

Russia’s deadliest aerial attack of 2026 so far killed at least 17 people across Ukraine on April 15-16, as Moscow also pressed its ground offensive in the east. (reuters.com) Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched more than 700 drones and missiles over roughly 24 hours, including 19 Iskander ballistic missiles, 20 Kh-101 cruise missiles, five Iskander-K missiles and 659 long-range drones. The strikes hit 26 locations, and debris from intercepted weapons damaged 25 more. (understandingwar.org) Ukrainian officials said the heaviest damage was in Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa and Kharkiv. The Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces also carried out a “double-tap” strike in Kyiv, hitting first responders after an initial blast. (understandingwar.org) As the barrage unfolded, Russia kept advancing village by village along the eastern front. Moscow’s battlefield claims have often outpaced independent confirmation, but they fit a broader pattern of slow Russian gains in Donetsk and neighboring regions through early 2026. (reuters.com, understandingwar.org) The air campaign and the ground push are linked. Ukrainian officials and outside analysts say Russia has been using huge drone waves to stretch air defenses before firing harder-to-stop ballistic missiles at cities and infrastructure. (understandingwar.org) Ukraine has answered with a different strategy: long-range drone strikes on Russian oil depots, refineries, pipelines and export ports. Reuters reported on April 2 that those attacks had cut Russia’s export capability by about 1 million barrels per day, or roughly 20% of total capacity, according to industry sources. (reuters.com) In late March, Reuters calculations put the disruption even higher, at about 40% of Russia’s crude export capacity, or around 2 million barrels per day, after attacks on ports including Ust-Luga, Primorsk and Novorossiysk. Russia has rerouted some flows, but loading stoppages and fires forced temporary shutdowns at major terminals. (reuters.com, osw.waw.pl) Ukraine kept that pressure up on April 18, when Reuters reported drone strikes on two refineries in Samara region, an oil depot in Crimea and the Baltic port of Vysotsk. Ukraine’s drone commander said recent attacks on Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Sheskharis and Tuapse had reduced daily oil shipments by about 880,000 barrels, a figure Reuters said it could not immediately verify. (reuters.com) Oil and gas still account for about a quarter of Russia’s state budget proceeds, according to Reuters. That leaves Moscow trying to absorb damage to one of its main revenue streams while continuing large missile-and-drone attacks on Ukrainian cities. (reuters.com) The immediate result is a war of attrition on two maps at once: civilians under bombardment in Ukraine, and energy chokepoints under attack inside Russia. Both sides are showing they can still strike far beyond the front line. (understandingwar.org, reuters.com)