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What the early January 2026 strikes showed
Summary
A look back at Russian attacks across Ukrainian regions in the opening days of 2026, as of 7 January 2026.
What did the first days of 2026 look like for Ukraine's frontline and border regions? By 7 January 2026, the picture was one of continued Russian strikes on several oblasts at once.
On 1 January, Russian drone strikes hit Dniprovskyi District in Kherson, killing one person and injuring another. Kherson had been shelled repeatedly throughout the invasion, and those attacks intensified after the city was liberated.
The violence widened within days. In overnight Russian attacks reported on 3 January, at least eight people were killed and 42 others injured. The strikes hit Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Sumy oblasts, spanning the east, south and north-east of the country.
A wide geographic spread
The list of affected regions is notable in itself. The attacks did not concentrate on a single front or city. They reached areas from Sumy in the north-east to Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south, with Kharkiv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk in between.
The casualty figures reported for 3 January were a minimum count: at least eight dead and 42 wounded. The 1 January strike on Kherson's Dniprovskyi District was far smaller in toll, yet it belonged to the same pattern of drone attacks on a city that had been under repeated fire.
Taken together, the reports from 1 and 3 January describe how the new year began for civilians in these regions: with overnight attacks, casualties in several oblasts, and Kherson again among the places struck.
