Ukraine confirmed on Friday that Russian drone strikes overnight killed two civilians in the Dnipropetrovsk region, just days after Kyiv acknowledged that Moscow’s forces had begun advancing into the area. Regional governor Sergiy Lysak reported that a man and a woman were killed in the Synelnyky district, while a 50-year-old woman was left wounded.

The industrial city of Dnipro was also hit, leaving two more people injured, including a 46-year-old man who remains in serious condition. Dnipropetrovsk, a key administrative region in central Ukraine, had largely avoided heavy fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, but the conflict has now spilled into the territory.

Although Russia has not officially claimed Dnipropetrovsk as its own—unlike Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea—Moscow says it has captured several settlements in the region since July, further intensifying pressure on Ukrainian defenses.