Russia launched a mass missile and drone attack overnight into Ukraine's Independence Day, killing 8 and wounding 43, with Odesa hit hardest.
Overnight into August 24 — the very date of Ukraine's 35th independence anniversary — Russia chose to launch another mass strike: missiles and at least 143 drones hit targets across the country. By morning, 8 people were confirmed dead and 43 wounded, with Odesa region suffering the worst damage.
According to Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional military administration, the main blow hit food storage facilities and energy infrastructure, while residential buildings were also damaged. In Odesa itself, two hypermarkets belonging to the Epicentr chain caught fire simultaneously in the Peresyp district — witnesses said the smoke was visible from a long distance. Epicentr spokesperson Yuliia Chudnovets confirmed damage to both stores.
The attack once again did not stay confined to Ukrainian territory: according to officials, drones violated the airspace of both Moldova and Romania, neighbouring NATO and EU states. It is not the first such incident in the past month, and each one forces Chișinău and Bucharest to coordinate their response with Kyiv, as strikes on Ukraine increasingly spill into neighbouring skies.
Against the backdrop of the overnight strike, the General Staff reported 231 clashes along the front line over the past day, with the fiercest fighting in the Kostiantynivka direction. The same day, leaders of several European countries arrived in Kyiv for Independence Day — a contrast that only underscores how fragile calm remains in a country now at war for 1,643 consecutive days.
Every such strike is more than a news bulletin — it is real people who lost a roof over their heads or loved ones overnight. Volunteers Support Ukraine keeps helping civilians affected by the war in whatever way its available resources allow, regardless of which region was hit this time.
