Eight Killed as Russian Drone and Missile Strikes Intensify Across Ukraine
A wave of Russian drone and missile attacks struck Ukraine on Thursday, killing six agricultural workers in the east and two people in Kyiv, officials said, in the latest surge of long-range violence in Europe’s worst conflict since World War II.
Air raid sirens wailed and residents rushed to shelters as the attacks unfolded. They came shortly after both Kyiv and Moscow used the United Nations stage to signal that neither would ease its campaign of long-range strikes, dampening hopes for any near-term peace.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in New York to seek additional Western military support and tougher sanctions on the Kremlin, accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure.
According to preliminary UN figures, Russian attacks have reached a new level of intensity this month, killing at least 200 civilians across Ukraine and wounding 1,234.
Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said the pattern was alarming not only for its frequency but also for the range of civilian sites affected: “places where people live, work, shop and receive essential services.”
Ukraine has also intensified its attacks on Russian territory, and civilian casualties there are rising as well. The UN mission described the trend as escalatory and illegal under international humanitarian law.
Three people were killed in Ukrainian drone strikes in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, the local governor said.
In Kyiv, the growing frequency of attacks has prompted residents to weigh contingency plans for winter, when Russian strikes could again cripple the energy system needed for heating in sub-zero temperatures.
After Thursday’s early-morning attacks, which authorities said included powerful ballistic missiles, burned-out cars and smoldering building remains were visible. Officials said at least two people were killed across the capital.
In the Kharkiv region, the regional prosecutor’s office released images showing the interior of a destroyed warehouse, with what appeared to be piles of apples scattered on the floor and a large hole in the roof. The storage facility in the Chuguiv district, southeast of Kharkiv, was hit while employees were sorting vegetables, the office said.
Drone-missile hybrid
Russia’s military is suspected of using a small, low-cost hybrid weapon called the “Banderol,” which combines features of a cruise missile and an attack drone. It has been deployed on a large scale before, notably to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses.
In and around Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa, officials said Russian strikes caused a fire at a shopping mall and also hit homes and businesses.
The attacks followed a day of Russian strikes that killed at least seven people in Ukraine and sparked fires in Kyiv.
The capital, home to about 3 million people, has faced particularly intense drone attacks in recent days, with hits on gas stations, warehouses and the rail network. Nova Post, the postal and courier company, said one of its branches was destroyed and its sorting depot damaged in Thursday’s strikes.
An AFP analysis of data from the ACLED armed conflict monitor found that the Kyiv region suffered more Russian strikes in the first 18 days of September than in any full month since the start of the war, apart from March 2022.
Zelensky met NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in New York to brief him on the latest security situation. He renewed his push for U.S.-made interceptors against ballistic missiles and tougher sanctions on Russia.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged both sides not to target each other’s energy sector. He also invited President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in the United States in December.
The Kremlin said it would consider the invitation, while the European Union said it would use the summit to keep condemning Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The renewed bloodshed underscored the civilian toll of a war now defined by drone and missile exchanges, even as diplomatic channels remain open. With winter approaching, the condition of Ukraine’s power grid—and the West’s willingness to keep supplying air defenses—could shape the next phase of the conflict.