In maps and charts: Russian and Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets

Al Jazeera visualises how attacks on civilian infrastructure have more than doubled over the course of the war.

Russia and Ukraine paused strikes on each other’s capitals over the weekend to allow United States President Donald Trump’s envoys to visit Moscow and make their first trip to Kyiv since the war began, as Washington attempts to revive talks that have been stalled since February.

The trip by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner comes after a Russian air campaign battered Kyiv for 10 consecutive days, killing at least 53 people. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the war will likely continue into winter, with no breakthrough announced after the talks.

As the war grinds on through its fifth year, Al Jazeera visualises how each side has come to rely on drones over artillery, with attacks reaching further and further beyond the front line and civilian infrastructure and cities increasingly caught in the crossfire.

Attacks on civilian infrastructure more than doubled

The war, which began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has seen both sides increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure.

According to an analysis by Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), Russian forces carried out 29,792 attacks on Ukraine in 2022. Of these, 1,635, more than 5 percent, hit civilian infrastructure, including residential, energy, healthcare and education facilities.

By August 2026, the number of Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine had risen to 7,170, representing more than 13 percent of all Russian attacks on the country.

The same ACLED analysis recorded 245 Ukrainian attacks in Russia in 2022, with 24 of those – about 10 percent – targeting civilian infrastructure. By August 2026, that figure had risen to 3,560 attacks, or 27 percent of all Ukrainian attacks in Russia.

Although a larger share of Ukrainian attacks targeted civilian infrastructure, Russia carried out far more attacks overall.

Where is civilian infrastructure being targeted?

Russia has consistently directed strikes at Ukraine’s energy grid and has again warned of “massive strikes” on infrastructure in the run-up to winter, in retaliation for attacks on its oil and gas facilities, according to transmission system operator Ukrenergo.

According to ACLED, the majority of Russian attacks on Ukraine have occurred along the front line in Donetsk, which has faced more than 3,652 attacks, followed by Kharkiv (3,590), Sumy (2,969), Dnipropetrovsk (1,797), and Kherson (1,147). Outside the eastern and border provinces of Ukraine, the Kyiv region, including the national capital, has recorded 742 attacks.

About 68 percent of Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure hit residential structures in Ukraine, while more than 19 percent struck energy facilities, followed by education buildings (7.7 percent) and healthcare facilities (5.1 percent).

Ukraine, in turn, has used long-range drones to strike Russian oil and gas facilities, logistics hubs and warehouses, including those belonging to e-commerce companies Wildberries and Ozon .

On Friday , Zelenskyy said Ukraine would launch at least “1,000 drones” against Russia each day, compared with the daily average of 300 or so until now.

The majority of Ukrainian attacks on Russia have occurred in the western region of Belgorod, which has experienced more than 9,549 attacks, followed by Kursk (1,035), Bryansk (297), Krasnodar (286) and Rostov (185).

About 69 percent of Ukrainian attacks have hit residential infrastructure in Russia, while almost 30 percent have struck energy infrastructure . Less than 2 percent of strikes have targeted education or healthcare infrastructure.

The graphic below compares Russian and Ukrainian attacks on civilian infrastructure since the start of the war.

Drones dominate the war, but Russia still relies on missiles

In the war’s early years, air and drone strikes made up only a small share of attacks on both sides, which relied mainly on shelling and artillery.

That has since reversed, with drone and air strikes now accounting for the lion’s share of attacks on both sides.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Russia is on track to launch 840 ballistic missiles at Ukraine this year, 47 percent more than in 2025.

Russia has stepped up its use of ballistic missiles in recent months, including the first confirmed combat use of its upgraded, longer-range Iskander-1000 against Kyiv, according to Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence.

Smoke rises from damaged buildings at the site of a Russian air attack in the Kyiv region on August 29, 2026 [Serhii Okunev/AFP]

More interceptors needed

Ukraine’s state news agency Ukrinform reported on September 1, quoting air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat, that they had shot down all cruise missiles fired in the overnight attack. Ukraine, however,”requires more capabilities, particularly more Patriot interceptor missiles”.

Ukraine’s supplies of expensive, US-made Patriot missiles and German-made IRIS-T interceptors have dwindled, impeding its ability to shoot down ballistic missiles. Interception rates have consequently fallen from 24 percent in 2025 to 10.2 percent in 2026, according to CSIS.

The growing threat of advanced ballistic missiles is increasing the need for sophisticated antimissile defence systems such as Patriot, THAAD, AMRAAM, and IRIS-T, according to CSIS.

Western support has helped to expand Ukraine’s drone and air defence capabilities. In June, the European Union provided 3.9 billion euros ($4.53bn) towards a 6 billion euros ($6.97bn) drone procurement package, while the United Kingdom announced a 752 million pounds ($1.02bn) package to deliver 150,000 drones and more than 350 air defence missiles and radars by the end of the year.

半岛电视台用图像展示了战争期间针对民用基础设施的袭击事件增加了一倍多。

为了让美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的特使能够访问莫斯科，并自战争爆发以来首次访问基辅，俄罗斯和乌克兰周末暂停了对对方首都的空袭。华盛顿方面正试图重启自2月份以来陷入停滞的谈判。

史蒂夫·维特科夫和贾里德·库什纳此次访问乌克兰之前，俄罗斯对基辅发动了连续10天的空袭，造成至少53人死亡。乌克兰总统泽连斯基表示，战争可能会持续到冬季，会谈后并未宣布任何突破性进展。

随着战争进入第五年，半岛电视台通过影像展现了双方如何越来越依赖无人机而非火炮，攻击范围也越来越远，超出前线，民用基础设施和城市日益受到战火波及。

针对民用基础设施的袭击事件增加了一倍多

这场战争始于2022年2月俄罗斯入侵乌克兰，双方都越来越多地将目标对准民用基础设施。

根据武装冲突地点和事件数据（ACLED）的分析，俄罗斯军队在2022年对乌克兰发动了29792次袭击。其中，1635次（超过5%）袭击了民用基础设施，包括住宅、能源、医疗保健和教育设施。

到 2026 年 8 月，俄罗斯对乌克兰民用基础设施的袭击次数已上升至 7170 次，占俄罗斯对该国所有袭击的 13% 以上。

同一份ACLED分析报告显示，2022年乌克兰在俄罗斯发动了245起袭击，其中24起（约占10%）针对民用基础设施。到2026年8月，这一数字上升至3560起袭击，占乌克兰在俄罗斯发动的所有袭击的27%。

尽管乌克兰发动的袭击中，针对民用基础设施的比例较高，但俄罗斯发动的袭击总数远超乌克兰。

哪些民用基础设施成为攻击目标？

据输电系统运营商乌克兰国家电力公司（Ukrenergo）称，俄罗斯一直对乌克兰的电网进行袭击，并再次警告称，在冬季来临之际，将对基础设施进行“大规模袭击”，以报复其石油和天然气设施遭到袭击。

根据ACLED的数据，俄罗斯对乌克兰的大部分袭击都发生在顿涅茨克前线，该地区遭受了超过3652次袭击，其次是哈尔科夫（3590次）、苏梅（2969次）、第聂伯罗彼得罗夫斯克（1797次）和赫尔松（1147次）。除乌克兰东部和边境省份外，包括首都基辅在内的基辅地区记录了742次袭击。

俄罗斯对乌克兰民用基础设施的袭击中，约 68% 袭击了居民建筑，超过 19% 袭击了能源设施，其次是教育建筑（7.7%）和医疗设施（5.1%）。

乌克兰则利用远程无人机袭击了俄罗斯的石油和天然气设施、物流中心和仓库，其中包括属于电子商务公司 Wildberries 和 Ozon 的设施和仓库。

周五，泽连斯基表示，乌克兰每天将至少向俄罗斯发射“1000架无人机”，而此前每天的平均发射量约为300架。

乌克兰对俄罗斯的袭击大多发生在西部的别尔哥罗德地区，该地区遭受了超过 9549 次袭击，其次是库尔斯克（1035 次）、布良斯克（297 次）、克拉斯诺达尔（286 次）和罗斯托夫（185 次）。

乌克兰发动的袭击中，约69%的目标是俄罗斯境内的居民基础设施，近30%的目标是能源基础设施。针对教育或医疗基础设施的袭击不到2%。

下图比较了自战争开始以来俄罗斯和乌克兰对民用基础设施的袭击情况。

无人机在战争中占据主导地位，但俄罗斯仍然依赖导弹。

在战争初期，双方的空袭和无人机袭击仅占攻击的一小部分，主要依靠炮击和火炮。

这种情况后来发生了逆转，无人机和空袭现在在双方的袭击中都占据了绝大部分。

根据战略与国际研究中心（CSIS）的数据，俄罗斯今年将向乌克兰发射 840 枚弹道导弹，比 2025 年增加 47%。

据乌克兰情报总局称，俄罗斯近几个月来加大了弹道导弹的使用力度，包括首次确认使用升级版远程“伊斯坎德尔-1000”导弹对基辅进行实战。

2026年8月29日，俄罗斯在基辅地区发动空袭，受损建筑物冒出浓烟。[Serhii Okunev/AFP]

需要更多拦截器

乌克兰国家通讯社乌克兰通讯社9月1日援引空军发言人尤里·伊格纳特的话说，乌克兰已击落所有在夜间袭击中发射的巡航导弹。然而，乌克兰“需要更多能力，特别是更多爱国者拦截导弹”。

乌克兰昂贵的美国制造的“爱国者”导弹和德国制造的“IRIS-T”拦截器的供应量已经减少，这削弱了其拦截弹道导弹的能力。据战略与国际研究中心（CSIS）称，拦截率因此从2025年的24%下降到2026年的10.2%。

据战略与国际研究中心 (CSIS) 称，先进弹道导弹的威胁日益加剧，因此需要更先进的反导防御系统，例如爱国者导弹、萨德反导系统、先进中程空对空导弹 (AMRAAM) 和 IRIS-T 导弹。

西方的支持帮助乌克兰提升了无人机和防空能力。今年6月，欧盟为一项总额达60亿欧元（约合69.7亿美元）的无人机采购计划提供了39亿欧元（约合45.3亿美元）的资金；与此同时，英国宣布了一项价值7.52亿英镑（约合10.2亿美元）的援助计划，旨在年底前向乌克兰交付15万架无人机以及350多枚防空导弹和雷达。