Ukraine war latest: Russian glide bomb attack on Kramatorsk kills 3, including 13-year-old boy, governor says
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Key developments on March 28-29:
- Russian glide bomb attack on Kramatorsk kills 3, including 13-year-old boy, governor says
- Pro-Ukrainian partisans disable electronic warfare equipment in Russia's Novgorod Oblast, group claims
- 'Explosion in production area' — Ukraine confirms Flamingo missiles hit explosives plant in Russia's Samara Oblast
- Russian strikes kill 2 Naftogaz employees in 3 days
- Russia strikes maternity hospital, educational institutions in Odesa, killing 2, injuring 14
At least three people, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed and seven others were wounded by a Russian glide bomb attack on Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin reported on March 29.
The attack happened at noon, and the injured victims' ages range from 20 to 80, according to Filashkin.
Local authorities are determining the final number of civilian victims and the extent of the damage, said the governor, with numerous multi-story buildings reported damaged.
"Once again, the Russians are deliberately targeting a peaceful city and killing children," Filashkin said in his Telegram post, condemning the "deliberate terror against our people."
"They will certainly be held accountable for every life destroyed and every home razed."
"The governor said that the emergency services are working at the attack site."
The regional Prosecutor's Office opened a pre-trial investigation to initiate criminal proceedings for a war crime, law enforcement said.
Located less than 20 kilometers from the nearest Russian positions in eastern Donetsk Oblast, where the fiercest fighting rages, Kramatorsk has endured intensified Russian glide bomb and drone attacks over the past weeks.
The city, once home to about 200,000 people before the full-scale war, has become the de facto regional capital after Russia occupied Donetsk in 2014.
Heavily fortified and home to a key intersection of railway and highways, Kramatorsk remains a strategic logistical hub at the center of Russia's aims to overrun the rest of Ukrainian-held Donetsk Oblast.
President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated last summer that it would take Russia four years to fully capture the Donbas.
Pro-Ukrainian partisans disable electronic warfare equipment in Russia's Novgorod Oblast, group claims
Members of the pro-Ukrainian Atesh partisan group disabled Russian electronic warfare equipment in Russia's Novgorod Oblast, the group claimed in a social media post on March 29.
Atesh claimed that the group's operators, working in coordination with Ukraine's Armed Forces, set ablaze three cellular towers equipped with electronic warfare antennas on March 17.
The tower fires, which occurred in the communities of Okhvat, Demyansk, and Valdai, limited anti-drone interference, "allowing Ukrainian drones to pass... and strike an aircraft repair plant in Staraya Russa," the group claimed.
According to Ukraine's General Staff, facilities at the 123rd Aircraft Repair Plant in the town of Staraya Russia were hit on March 17, including a hangar used to service Il-76 and L-410 aircraft.
The plant specializes in the repair and modernization of military transport aircraft and their components. It has its own runway, allowing it to receive heavy aircraft directly on-site.
Atesh claims that restoration of the plant is expected to take months.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify claims made by the partisan group.
The Atesh movement regularly commits sabotage attacks on Russian territory and in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
Over the past year, agents of Atesh have claimed to have sabotaged key railway hubs, a locomotive, as well as a Russian air defense factory, among other targets.
Ukraine's military has regularly struck military infrastructure deep within Russia in an effort to diminish Moscow's firepower, as Moscow continues its war against Ukraine. The 123rd Aircraft Repair Plant is located about 750 kilometers (about 466 miles) from the Ukraine-Russia border.
'Explosion in production area' — Ukraine confirms Flamingo missiles hit explosives plant in Russia's Samara Oblast
Ukrainian Flamingo missiles struck the JSC Promsintez explosives production plant in Russia's Samara Oblast on the morning of March 28, Ukraine's General Staff reported.
The "strategically important facility" produces over 30,000 metric tons of explosives for bombs and missiles annually, the General Staff wrote on Telegram.
"A confirmed strike on the target was followed by an explosion in the production area," the General Staff wrote.
The extent of the damage is being assessed.
Initially, Russian Telegram media channels reported the attack.
Photos and videos published on social media by local residents appear to show a large fireball emanating from the production plant, located in the city of Chapaevsk. A photo published to social media by Russian Telegram media channels purportedly shows the FP-5 Flamingo missile approaching the plant.
Amid the reported strike, Samara Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev warned of a missile threat on the region. Explosions were first reported by local resident around 6:30 a.m. local time.
Russian forces also reportedly shot down 155 Ukrainian drones across 16 regions overnight on March 28, including in the occupied-Crimean peninsula and Moscow , according to Russia's Defense Ministry.
Moscow only reported on the drones that were downed, without saying if any hit their targets.
The Flamingo missile, built by controversial defense manufacturer Fire Point, has only been used by Kyiv on a handful of occasions since being first unveiled last summer, with its reported use increasing since November 2025.
With a 1,000-kilogram warhead and a 3,000-kilometer (1,864 miles) stated range, the domestically produced Flamingo has promised to dramatically enhance Ukraine's long-range strike capability.
The JSC Promsintez explosives manufacturing plant is located approximately 750 kilometers from the Ukraine-Russia border.
Zelensky has previously called the weapon Ukraine's "most successful missile." He claimed then that mass production of Flamingo missiles would begin in the winter of 2025-2026.
On Feb. 20, Ukraine used Flamingo missiles to strike the Votkinsk plant in Russia's Udmurtia Republic, where Russia produces the Iskander-M ballistic missile system, one of the key elements in Moscow's mid- and long-range strike arsenal.
Russian strikes kill 2 Naftogaz employees in 3 days
Ukraine's state-owned oil and gas giant, Naftogaz, has lost two employees in one week as Russian strikes continue to tear through the company's facilities, CEO Serhii Koretskyi on March 28.
Naftogaz's gas production sites in Poltava Oblast have been under attack for three days in a row, killing Romam Chmykhun, a 55-year-old process operator.
The site was hit by three drones overnight, Koretskyi wrote on Facebook.
Days before on March 26, Russian shelling killed Olha Basenko, a worker at a cogeneration (CHP) plant in Kherson Oblast.
Naftogaz, which provides gas to heat homes in Ukraine, is one of Russia's prime targets in Ukraine. Its facilities have been targeted more than 40 times this year — largely in gas rich Poltava Oblast
The company endured 1,399 Russian drone and missile attacks last year alone — more than the previous three years combined.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has killed 316 Naftogaz employees, including Chmykhun and Basenko.
Russia amped up strikes on Naftogaz in fall 2025, wiping out over half of Ukraine's gas production. Since then, Naftogaz has secured support to procure gas reserves, including U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries last month.
Russia strikes maternity hospital, educational institutions in Odesa, killing 2, injuring 14
Russian forces launched a drone attack on the city of Odesa overnight on March 28, killing two victims and injuring at least 14, including a child, officials reported.
Serhii Lysak, head of the Odesa City Military Administration, said that a drone had struck the roof of a maternity hospital, as well as three "educational institutions," in the Prymorskyi district of the city.
An apartment building was also struck, causing "partial destruction" between the fourth and fifth floors, officials said.
Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper reported the following day that two people were killed in the strikes and 14 other victims were injured and receiving medical care.
Maternity hospital staff and patients were evacuated to an underground shelter amid the attack.
Located in southern Ukraine off the Black Sea, the port city of Odesa has served as a regular target of Russian attacks given its proximity to Russian-occupied Crimea.
Throughout the full-scale war, Russia has multiple times targeted maternity hospitals, alongside attacks on other civilian infrastructure. Educational institutions have also served as a regular target of attack, with strikes on schools and universities especially prevalent around the front line region.
Note from the author:
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