Russia hit Ukraine overnight on Wednesday, 28 October, with one Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missile and 88 Shahed attack drones, 38 of them jet-powered, according to the Air Force. By 8:00, air defences had shot down or jammed 71 enemy drones, 31 of them jet-powered. Missiles and drones hit 8 locations, and debris from downed drones fell at 2 others.
Kharkiv
Five people were wounded in Kharkiv, including a 4-year-old child. The overnight strike hit residential buildings in the Osnovianskyi district.
The State Emergency Service said a large fire broke out over an area of 2,500 sq m. A multi-storey apartment block, a private home, outbuildings and a production building burned. Other apartment blocks, garages and cars were also damaged.
Because of the risk of new strikes, rescuers are clearing the damage together with other services.
Lyman
In Lyman, in Donetsk region, a Romanian volunteer shielded civilians with his body when a Russian FPV drone hit their group in the last stage of an evacuation. He was badly hurt and lost a limb.
Rostyslav Yashchyshyn of the 63rd Mechanised Brigade said the volunteer is in hospital in a Ukrainian city. He has had surgery, is being prepared for a prosthesis and is conscious. The two-day operation to rescue 8 civilians had been planned for a long time, and the team waited for the right moment. Fog helped, and fighters from an assault and search group of the 3rd Mechanised Battalion, made up of foreigners, began under its cover. Those evacuated included elderly people and people with disabilities, some of whom can only move in wheelchairs.
"Even if they see a drone, they can't hide on their own, and you simply can't abandon these people," Yashchyshyn said, explaining the group's motives. He said the large number of drones from both sides in Lyman makes any movement almost impossible.
Russia has been waging a full-scale war on Ukraine since February 2022.