Russian forces carried out a large-scale overnight strike on Ukraine on September 28, 2025, firing swarms of drones and dozens of missiles that killed at least four people and injured more than 70.
The assault focused on Kyiv but reached multiple regions across the country, according to Ukrainian officials.
Kyiv City Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said a 12-year-old girl was among the dead, and at least 10 others were wounded in the capital. He wrote that “the Russians have restarted the child death counter.”
Scale and interception rates
Ukraine’s air force reported a total of 595 exploding drones and decoys and 48 missiles in the barrage. Air defenses shot down or jammed 566 drones and 45 missiles, according to the morning update.
Officials described the operation as a layered attack intended to overwhelm defenses by mixing decoys with strike munitions.
City authorities said the worst casualties were in Kyiv, where emergency services responded to multiple impact sites and debris from interceptions.
Tkachenko’s office reported fatalities that included a 12-year-old girl and noted at least 10 injured in the capital. Assessments were ongoing as search teams worked through damaged buildings and verified hospital admissions.
Strikes beyond the capital
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the barrage also targeted the regions of Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Odesa, in addition to Kyiv.
Local officials reported injuries and infrastructure damage across several of those areas as air defenses engaged waves of incoming drones and missiles.
Zelenskyy said the attack landed virtually at the close of U.N. General Assembly week, calling it evidence that Moscow intends to continue fighting and killing. He urged partners to apply the toughest possible pressure and reiterated calls for sustained air defense support.
U.S. politics and shifting rhetoric
The strike came days after President Donald Trump adopted a sharper tone on the conflict during the diplomatic week in New York. Rather than emphasizing a peace deal, he urged Ukraine to pursue victory with European and NATO backing.
“I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back in its original form,” he wrote on Tuesday.
He added that with time, patience, and European and NATO financial support, restoring the original prewar borders “is very much an option.”
Trump’s comments contrast with his stance earlier this year, including a February Oval Office meeting in which he told Zelenskyy he “didn’t have the cards” to take on Russia and suggested Kyiv would need to make significant concessions to end the war.
