Russian strikes killed at least two people in Ukraine, officials said on Sunday, as Ukraine’s military struck a drone factory in south-western Russia.
A 16-year-old boy died and four others were injured in a “massive” night time drone strike on Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, according to the head of the city’s military administration.
Rescuers found the teenager’s body as they cleared away rubble, Dmytro Bryzhynskyi reported on Telegram on Sunday morning.
He said the drone strike also injured three women and one man.
Several houses were set on fire, he added.
On Sunday morning, Russian drones also attacked the southern city of Kherson, local officials reported.
A man died of his wounds after a drone hit a van driving through the city centre, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the regional administration.
A second man was taken to hospital with blast injuries, regional authorities said.
Russia launched 236 drones into Ukrainian territory overnight into Sunday, Ukraine’s air force reported.
Of those, 203 drones were shot down while 32 hit targets in 18 separate locations, it said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine hit a drone factory in the city of Taganrog, Ukraine’s General Staff reported.
The site lies some 55 kilometres (35 miles) east of Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine in south-western Russia.
According to the military, Ukrainian drones sparked a fire at the Atlant Aero factory, which designs and produces strike and reconnaissance drones, as well as components for more powerful UAVs that can carry guided bombs weighing up to 250 kilograms.
Three people were injured in a night-time air attack on commercial infrastructure in Taganrog, according to the Russian regional governor, Yuri Slyusar.
He did not specify what facility was hit, but said warehouses were set on fire following the strike.
Taganrog mayor Svetlana Kambulova said the strike damaged “commercial enterprises” in the city, as well as a vocational school and multiple cars.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said that its forces shot down 274 Ukrainian drones during the night, as well as guided aerial bombs and a Ukrainian-made Neptune missile.
Every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war
The ministry did not say how many struck targets.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry on Sunday launched an official inquiry into a mass shooting in Kyiv the previous day that killed six people and wounded at least 14 others.
A gunman wielding an automatic weapon killed six people and barricaded himself inside a supermarket with hostages in the Ukrainian capital before he was shot and killed by police, authorities said.
Interior minister Ihor Klymenko described the attacker’s mental state as “clearly unstable”.
The 58-year-old gunman has not been named, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said he was born in Russia.
Authorities worked to piece together a motive for the violence.
Several police officers were suspended for allegedly failing to respond appropriately in the initial stages of the shooting.
Mr Klymenko described their behaviour as “shameful and unworthy” of their role as police officers.
He said there was no plan to toughen gun ownership laws, arguing that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens had helped the country’s defence against Russia.
The mass shooting — unheard of in wartime Kyiv following Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — took place in a busy central district of the city, outside an apartment block and a nearby shopping centre, leaving bodies on a crowded street as bystanders fled for safety.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw victims’ bodies in the street covered with emergency blankets before they were taken away.
The continued easing of sanctions against Russia does not reflect the real situation in the war or in diplomacy and fuels the Russian leadership’s illusion that they can continue the war. This week alone, the Russians have launched over 2,360 attack drones, more than 1,320 guided… pic.twitter.com/XmVz4e07Aq
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 19, 2026
Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky responded with dismay to the Trump administration’s decision on Friday to extend its pause on sanctions on Russian oil shipments.
“Every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war,” Mr Zelensky wrote in a post on X, arguing that any additional revenue the Kremlin gets from oil sales “is directly converted into new strikes against Ukraine”.
“That is why it is important that Russian tankers are stopped, not allowed to deliver oil to ports. The aggressor’s oil exports must decrease, and Ukraine’s long-range sanctions continue to work toward that goal,” he added.
The so-called general licence, intended to ease supply constraints resulting from the Iran war, means US sanctions will not apply for 30 days on deliveries of Russian oil that has been loaded on tankers as of Friday. It extended a similar 30-day licence issued in March for Russian oil that had been loaded by March 11.
