Russian Glide Bombs Strike Kherson, Killing 1, Injuring 27

One emergency medical worker was killed and 27 other civilians were injured – including a one-month-old infant and an 11-year-old child – after Russian forces carried out consecutive guided aerial bomb (KAB) strikes on the Korabelnyi district of Kherson on Saturday morning, Oct. 17.

Head of the Kherson City Military Administration Yaroslav Shanko reported that Russian tactical aviation launched eight guided aerial bombs against residential buildings and civilian social infrastructure during two consecutive strike waves conducted within an hour.

A secondary strike was launched as emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene of the initial impacts to administer first aid, killing an emergency ambulance driver and injuring a female medical worker.

“The occupiers carried out two airstrikes within an hour, dropping eight KABs on residential buildings and social infrastructure facilities,” Shanko stated.

“The repeat strike was delivered after the arrival of medics. An ambulance driver was killed, and another female medic was injured.”

Emergency rescue operations and rubble clearance

According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (DSNS), the aerial bombardment damaged 10 multi-story residential buildings across the district, igniting localized fires and trapping residents beneath collapsed structural elements.

SES rescue crews, municipal utility workers, and emergency responders deployed immediately to secure damaged perimeters, extinguish fires, and conduct search-and-rescue operations. Rescuers extracted seven injured residents from beneath the rubble of damaged residential high-rises.

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Medical personnel treated 22 injured individuals at the scene and in regional clinical facilities, confirming that the wounded included a one-month-old infant and an 11-year-old child.

Engineering brigades and civil defense units initiated structural assessments across the 10 damaged high-rises to stabilize damaged facades and clear shattered glass and masonry from surrounding municipal thoroughfares.

Subsequently, the Kherson Regional State Administration reported that the number of casualties had risen to 27. Three more women, aged 64, 55, and 54, sought medical attention.

They suffered concussions, blast injuries, and closed head injuries. Two of the victims are currently in the hospital.

Wave of weekend bombardments

The morning bombardment of Kherson followed a series of coordinated Russian strikes directed against civilians and municipal infrastructure across several Ukrainian regions early Saturday morning.

In the eastern city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region, Russian aircraft dropped FAB-250 aerial bombs on an urban residential neighborhood at approximately 3:40 a.m. local time, killing one civilian, injuring 10 others, and damaging eight high-rises, two of which sustained partial structural collapses.

Concurrently in the Vinnytsia region, Russian forces launched one of their largest aerial assaults on the region since the full-scale invasion, injuring six people and damaging critical municipal infrastructure.

Ukrainian air defenses downed 24 strike drones over the region, but impacts forced utility dispatchers to transfer municipal water and life-support facilities onto backup emergency generators.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force Command, the nationwide overnight barrage involved ballistic missiles – including Iskander-M and KN-23 systems – alongside Kh-22 and Kh-32 cruise missiles, four sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles, and 332 unmanned aerial vehicles.

Ukrainian air defense forces, combat aviation, electronic warfare teams, and mobile interceptor groups downed or suppressed 293 aerial targets by 8:00 a.m. on Saturday.

The overnight operations also produced civilian casualties in Kharkiv, where missile strikes on the Nemyshlianskyi district wounded 15 people, including three children, and in Zaporizhzhia, where early morning missile arrivals injured two civilians and set parked vehicles ablaze.