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Russian Drone Attacks Kill Two, Wound Over 40 in Kyiv
Confirmed
In Short: Russian drone attacks on Wednesday killed two people and wounded over 40 in Kyiv, including 22 children.
Regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said that 22 children were among the wounded in the daytime attack on the city of Kryvyi Rih, which is President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown.
Zelenskyy called the attack 'absolutely cynical and despicable,' saying that a second Russian drone hit the shopping centre half an hour after the first in what he said was a deliberate attempt to target emergency services.
In a separate attack on Friday, at least four people, including three children, were killed and a woman was wounded after a Russian drone strike in Ukraine's southern region of Mykolaiv, according to Ukrainian state media.
The rare daytime attack on Kyiv was carried out with faster and high-flying jet drones that are harder to intercept and lasted for hours from the morning into early afternoon, according to local officials.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a Russian drone hit a nine-storey non-residential building in his city, as well as a business centre and warehouses.
Zelenskyy said Russia had deployed many drones against the city, with a large number of them jet-powered.
According to the latest update from Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, Russian strikes have killed two people and injured 43 others just in Kyiv.
Elsewhere, casualties were reported in Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Donetsk and Sumy oblasts, bringing the minimum confirmed nationwide toll to two killed and at least 62 wounded.
Khrystyna, a resident of Solomianskyi district, told the Kyiv Independent that it turned out to be just a Shahed, and it struck somewhere nearby.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses had intercepted and destroyed 514 drones overnight over 18 regions, including Bashkortostan, occupied Crimea, and the Black and Azov seas.
What this adds
Russia is escalating its air war on Ukraine as fighting on the battlefield grinds toward the 4-1/2-year mark.
Ukraine has also stepped up its own attacks on Russia, targeting oil facilities and logistics infrastructure to try to undermine Moscow's ability to wage war.
Zelenskyy asked for increased supplies of US Patriot air defence missiles to defend the country against an expected increase in Russian attacks on energy infrastructure during winter.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday asked Ukraine to stop hitting Russian diesel refineries, blaming the attacks for creating a diesel shortage that he said was 'hurting the world.
Background
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, saying attacks on the country's energy infrastructure were contributing to a diesel shortage.
Russian forces launched a drone attack on Kyiv on Wednesday, Sept. 13, disrupting internet services and causing major railway delays, according to reports from the Kyiv Post.
What's confirmed
- Russian drone strikes killed two people and injured at least 43 as of 5:00 p.m. local time, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
What's still developing
- "Attacks like these are nothing less than terrorist acts," Zelenskiy said on Telegram, urging the world to hold Russia to account.
- Ukraine has also stepped up its own attacks on Russia, targeting oil facilities and logistics infrastructure to try to undermine Moscow's ability to wage war.
- On Monday, the Financial Times newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the call, that Trump pressed Zelenskyy on Sunday to halt Kyiv’s strikes on Russian refineries over concerns that the attacks are exacerbating a global diesel shortage and pushing up prices.
- Still on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters before a meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that there were no grounds for peace talks with Ukraine.
- “For now, there are no prerequisites for moving onto a peaceful negotiating track, although we, as the Russian side, remain open to peace talks,” Peskov said.
- He asked for increased supplies of US Patriot air defence missiles to defend the country against an expected increase in Russian attacks on energy infrastructure during winter.
- In brief: Kyiv came under a Russian drone attack Wednesday morning, with at least five explosions reported near the Central Railway Station area.
- “Already two victims of the enemy attack on the capital. One man died in hospital, another was killed,” Klitschko said.
- Russia also struck the Darnytsia pharmaceutical plant in Kyiv, according to Kateryna Zagoriy, a member of the company’s Strategic Council and co-founder of the Zagoriy Foundation.
- The pharmaceutical company was also damaged in a Russian attack on the capital in June, when Zagoriy said there were no casualties among employees.
- Back in September 2022, Alisa joined the Kyiv Post team.
- Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.