Last gas station between Kharkiv and Poltava destroyed as Russian attacks kill 9, injure 76 over past day

Russian forces have destroyed all gas stations along the highway between Poltava and Kharkiv, with the last one struck in the town of Valky on July 26, according to regional officials.

Over recent months, while Ukraine's long-range strikes have caused a fuel crisis across Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine with attacks on refineries, Russia has quietly been systematically targeting gas stations.

Speaking on live TV, Kharkiv Oblast Council member Oleksandr Skoryk urged motorists to plan to have sufficient fuel in reserve ahead of journeys along the affected part of the highway.

The stretch of road, part of the pan-European E40 highway, is also one of the two main logistics routes from Kyiv to front-line areas in eastern Ukraine.

According to Skoryk, of around 200 gas stations destroyed by Russian strikes in Ukraine, 80 were in Kharkiv Oblast.

For now, attacks on gas stations have failed to induce a larger fuel crisis in Ukraine, which has built up a modern and diversified fuel market.

In total, Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least nine Ukrainian civilians and injured a further 76 over the past day, regional authorities reported in the morning.

In a rare daytime attack, Russian forces struck a supermarket in the northern city of Chernihiv, killing two people, including a 10-year-old girl. Another 25, including four other children, were wounded, said governor Viacheslav Chaus, who announced a day of mourning for July 27.

A total of two people were killed and 13 wounded in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, as Russian forces attacked 45 settlements in the front-line region, according to governor Ivan Fedorov.

In Kharkiv, a 40-year-old woman was killed, with 22 other people injured across the region, governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

Russian forces attacked ships and port infrastructure in Mykolaiv overnight, killing two men aged 50 and 48 at the site, and damaging three civilian ships, regional authorities said.

In a separate attack, two civilians were injured in an overnight attack with a Molniya-type drone.

A total of nine people were injured in northeastern Sumy Oblast, regional authorities said.

Three civilians were wounded in front-line Donetsk Oblast, including two in Kramatorsk and one more in the largely-destroyed city of Dobropillia, governor Vadym Filashkin said.

Two civilians, including a six-year-old boy, were injured in Russian attacks on front-line Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said.