Ukraine war latest: Ukraine unveils new drone assault units, Russia kills 17 in mass attack

Prefer on Google by The Kyiv Independent news desk The ground-based robotic system SleamAk during a test exhibition of Brave1 ground robots in Ukraine on April 11, 2025. (Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg/Getty Images) Key developments on April 16: Ukraine has introduced drone assault units that combine aerial and ground drones, the Defense Ministry announced on April 15. "A new model of warfare is being introduced — drone assault units, which combine aerial and ground drones with infantry into a single system," the Defense Ministry said . Kyiv continues to promote the production of cost-effective drones that aim to bolster Ukraine's defense and reduce human casualties. "This approach has already shown results in the south, where a large amount of territory has been liberated since February, precisely due to the use of these latest units," the statement read. The Defense Ministry said that tens of thousands of unmanned ground systems have already been produced and can replace people. President Volodymyr Zelensky, on April 13, praised Ukraine's achievements in unmanned systems , saying that Ukrainian drones carried out more than 22,000 front-line missions over three months. "In other words, lives have been saved more than 22,000 times — a robot went into the most dangerous zones instead of a soldier. This is about high technology protecting the highest value: human life," Zelensky said. Ukraine has sought cooperation with allies, leveraging battlefield experience and domestically produced arms as invaluable assets. On April 14, Norway and Ukraine signed a defense declaration in Oslo aimed at deepening military cooperation, including joint drone production, following talks between Zelensky and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Ukraine and Germany elevated bilateral ties to a strategic partnership with the signing of a defense cooperation agreement during Zelensky's visit to Berlin on April 14. With the U.S. and Israel at war with Iran, Ukraine has been open to helping Washington and its Middle Eastern allies, who have faced retaliation from Tehran. Russia regularly deploys Shahed-type drones in mass attacks on Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure. Moscow first received the drone technology from Tehran, and Iran has used Shahed drones in its strikes. With Ukraine equipped to combat Iranian drones, Kyiv has signed 10-year defense partnerships with several Gulf countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Smoke fills the sky as the sun rises over Kyiv following a Russian ballistic missile strike on April 16, 2026. (The Kyiv Independent) Russia slams Ukrainian cities in mass missile attack overnight — at least 17 dead, 98 injured Russian missiles and drones destroyed homes, burned buildings, and killed civilians in Ukraine's major cities in a mass overnight strike on April 16, killing at least 17 and injuring over 100 in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Odesa. The overnight assault marks one of the deadliest Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians of 2026. The Air Force later said Russia launched a total of 19 ballistic missiles , 25 cruise missiles, and 659 drones during the attack. Twelve missiles and 20 drones hit 26 locations across Ukraine, and debris from interceptions hit 25 locations. In the first attack on Kyiv in over a month, at least four people — including a 12-year-old child — were killed and 48 others injured overnight in Kyiv , Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported . Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 26 of the wounded were hospitalized, and that among the victims are emergency medics and children. Elsewhere in Ukraine, the overnight Russian attack killed at least nine people in the southern port city of Odesa and killed at least four people in the central-eastern city of Dnipro, the local authorities and the State Emergency Service reported. Ukraine's Air Force issued a ballistic missile alert at around 2:35 a.m. local time. Minutes later, Kyiv Independent journalists in the capital reported loud explosions as the missiles struck the city. Russia's attacks didn't end when the sun rose: Early in the morning, as emergency crews were still clearing the wreckage of the overnight assault, air raid alarms sounded over Kyiv again, and a Russian drone struck an apartment building. In Kyiv, the attacks caused damage to multiple neighborhoods, Klitschko said. In the Podilskyi district, a non-residential building sustained a direct hit, while other places were struck by debris. These included a residential building, where a fire broke out, a three-story hotel, and the sixth floor of an apartment building. Missile debris also partially destroyed a local home, where a mother and child were rescued from the rubble by first responders. At the scene, the home was mangled beyond recognition, with plasterboard walls and wooden frames mixing with clothes and personal items, as a large crater opened up before the building. Nineteen-year-old resident Yeva — who declined to give her last name — was woken together with her sister by a nearby explosion around 2:45 a.m., and got out of bed to make sure a prized family mirror wouldn't break. "I ran to take down the mirror to fix it so it would not fall, and at that moment there was a second explosion, and the roof fell down," she told the Kyiv Independent while searching through the debris. "It fell exactly on the place where my sister was, and what saved her from something much worse than current injuries was that she stood up to pick up things together with me." The area, with a mix of residential homes and summer homes, was considered a very safe part of the city before the attack, far from anything that could be a military target, said Yeva. "People always believe that this will not happen to us," she said, "our shelter was the basement, but we used it only the first year of the war. "It was hard to believe, especially when there are no major government facilities nearby." Residents said the strike came with little warning. Serhii, 65, who lives in the area and also declined to give his last name because of the nature of his job, said he and his wife moved into the corridor after the air raid siren sounded, but had only seconds before the blast hit. "Everything flew straight at us – windows, doors, and everything else," he said. "There was no time even to think or do anything." Shortly after 7 a.m. local time, Klitschko reported that a low-flying Russian drone crashed into an 18-story building in the Podilskyi district. In the Obolonskyi district, an office building was damaged, along with cars parked nearby. A fire broke out at a two-story residential building in the Desnyanskyi district as a result of falling missile debris. Explosions were also reported in Odesa shortly after a ballistic missile warning. Serhii Lysak, head of the Odesa City Military Administration, later reported that several waves of missile and drone strikes targeted the southern port city overnight. Nine people in Odesa were killed and 23 others injured, the State Emergency Service said . The attacks damaged infrastructure facilities, a residential building, and a city park. In Dnipro , fires blazed in residential neighborhoods as a deadly Russian missile attack hit the city for the second time this week. At least four civilians were killed and 34 others injured in the attacks, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Oleksandr Hanzha reported . Fourteen victims were hospitalized, with five in critical condition. The attack — which Hanzha described as "a massive strike" — damaged apartments, offices, administrative buildings, a factory, and vehicles in Dnipro. The latest mass attack on Ukraine comes shortly after President Volodymyr Zelensky sounded the alarm on the country's critical shortage of air defense missiles, particularly U.S.-made Patriots , which are capable of intercepting ballistic missiles. "The situation is in such a deficit, it could not be any worse," Zelensky said in an interview published on April 4. Global demand for Patriot interceptors among operators of the U.S.-made system has increased dramatically since the start of the war on Iran in March. A few hours after the attack, Zelensky reported to have tasked the commander of the Air Force to contact those of Ukraine's partners who had promised more interceptor missiles, including for the Patriot system. "It is important to fulfill every promise of aid to Ukraine on time," Zelensky wrote . "There are many political commitments of partners that have already been announced, but have not yet been implemented." Despite the Patriot shortage, eight of the ballistic missiles were successfully shot down, according to the Air Force. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called on the international community to take "immediate actions," including measures to increase pressure on Russia through sanctions and providing aid to Ukraine. Missile and drone alerts were also declared in regions across the country, including Kharkiv and Cherkasy. Information regarding casualties and damage is still being updated. The Air Force said eight of the 19 ballistic missiles were downed, 23 of 25 cruise missiles, and 636 drones. "Russia is once again confirming its true nature by launching nighttime strikes on Ukrainian cities, where ordinary people live," Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said the morning after the mass attack. "These are attacks on civilians. And every time there is no accountability, such tragedies repeat themselves," he added, vowing that Russia would be held accountable for "every life taken." Smoke and flame fill the sky over the Russian port city of Tuapse in Krasnodar Krai after a reported Ukrainian drone attack on April 16, 2026. (Exilenova-Plus / Telegram) Ukrainian drone strikes turn major Russian oil refinery into 'volcano' along the Black Sea Ukrainian drones struck the Tuapse Oil Refinery in southern Russia's Krasnodar Krai during an overnight attack on April 16, according to eyewitness and official reports. The Tuapse Oil Refinery, a Rosneft facility, is one of the 10 largest oil refineries in Russia . Tuapse residents reported explosions in the area amid Ukrainian drone strikes. Locals said that the drones hit fuel tanks at the Tuapse refinery, the Telegram channel Exilenova-Plus reported . Open-source analysis conducted by the Russian opposition Telegram news channel Astra concluded that the Tuapse Oil Refinery was on fire after the drone attack. Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev also reported that an "enterprise in the seaport area" was hit by drone debris, though he did not mention the refinery by name. The governor also reported civilian casualties and damage to residential buildings. The attack struck residential buildings in Tuapse, killing two children, ages 5 and 14, Kondratyev said. Two other adults were reported injured. All educational institutions in the city have canceled classes for April 16. The Ukrainian General Staff subsequently confirmed the strike on the Tuapse Oil Refinery in their summary of successful attacks of April 16. Fires in Tuapse have spread over the course of the day. Ukrainian OSINT project CyberBoroshno wrote that "the fire has intensified and likely has spilled over into neighboring reservoirs." The General Staff put the Tuapse Oil Refinery's output at 12 million tons per year. Cyberboroshno went on to write that the Port of Tuapse is responsible for "up to 10% of Russia's total export of petroleum products." The port city of Tuapse lies around 75 kilometers northwest of the major city of Sochi and regularly comes under attack by Ukrainian drones. The Tuapse Oil Refinery has a processing capacity of about 12 million tons of petroleum products per year. The facility plays a key role in supplying the Russian military, producing automobile gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, and raw materials for petrochemicals. The refinery has been targeted in previous Ukrainian strikes , some of which caused the plant to temporarily suspend operations. Ukraine regularly attacks military and industrial targets in Russia and Russian-occupied territories with long-range weapons. In the last six months, Ukrainian forces have stepped up their campaign against oil and gas infrastructure in Russia. Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported on April 15 that Ukraine hit 76 Russian industrial targets — including 15 oil refineries — in March alone. A Patriot rocket launcher of the Romanian army fires a PAC-2 ATM missile during a military drill at the Capu Midia training range near the Black Sea on Nov. 15, 2023. (Daniel Mihailescu / AFP via Getty Images) Ukraine's critical Patriot shortage prompts Zelensky to chase down partner pledges President Volodymyr Zelensky instructed Ukraine's Air Force commander on April 16 to contact partners that had pledged missiles for the Patriot air defense system and other platforms, amid a worsening shortage of interceptors. The directive came days after Zelensky warned that Ukraine's supply of U.S.-produced Patriot missiles had reached a critical level, as Russia continues large-scale strikes on Ukrainian cities. Russian missiles and drones hit residential areas overnight on April 16, destroying homes, setting buildings ablaze, and killing at least 17 people while injuring more than 100. The Air Force said Russia launched 19 ballistic missiles, 25 cruise missiles, and 659 drones in the attack. "The pressure on Russia must be effective," Zelensky said . "And it is important to fulfill every promise of assistance to Ukraine in a timely manner. There are many political commitments from our partners that have already been announced but not yet implemented." Patriot interceptors have become a key bottleneck for Ukraine's air defense. The missiles, produced in the United States , remain the country's most effective protection against Russian ballistic strikes, which are difficult to intercept with other systems. Additional manufacturing capacity is under development in Germany, but supplies remain limited. "The situation is in such a deficit, it could not be any worse," Zelensky said on April 14, warning that the Middle East conflict is reducing Ukraine's chances of receiving additional military aid.