Russia's overnight missile and drone barrage hits Odesa and other Ukrainian cities, wounding dozens

Why it matters

The attack shows the continued intensity and scale of Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian and infrastructure targets. In one night, missiles and drones hit heavily populated areas in Odesa Oblast and other regions, wounding dozens of civilians including children and a five-month-old baby, and causing casualties in Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih. It was one of the larger reported combined missile-and-drone barrages, with more than 140 aerial weapons used and 110 intercepted by Ukrainian air defense.

What happened

Russia carried out a large overnight combined missile and drone attack on Ukraine on September 12. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the strike involved Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles launched from Russia's Voronezh and Rostov regions and from temporarily occupied Crimea, 8 Kalibr cruise missiles launched from the Black Sea, 6 Kh-59/69 guided air missiles, and 129 strike drones — including Shahed types, S8000 "Banderole" drones and "Parodia" decoy drones — launched from Kursk and Oryol in Russia and from occupied Donetsk and Crimea. About half of the drones were jet-powered.

As of 08:30, Ukrainian air defense said it had shot down or suppressed 110 aerial targets: 6 Kalibr missiles, 1 S8000 "Banderole" drone, 2 Kh-59/69 missiles, and 101 drones (Shahed, "Herbera" and other types). Hits from missiles and strike drones were recorded at 20 locations, with falling debris at 4 additional sites. The attack was still ongoing at the time of reporting.

The main direction was Odesa Oblast. Around 05:30–05:35 the Air Force reported Russian cruise missiles moving from the Black Sea toward Odesa, and explosions were heard shortly afterward. In Odesa, upper floors of a multi-storey residential building were destroyed and a 25-storey building was hit, with apartments on the 21st–23rd floors catching fire; rescuers from the State Emergency Service saved seven people, including two children, with some residents trapped in a lift. Blast damage was reported to neighboring houses and to a low-pressure gas pipeline. The number of people injured rose during the morning — from 3 to 6, then 12, then at least 16 or 17 — and a five-month-old baby was among the wounded. More than 80 rescuers worked at the sites, with an operational headquarters, utilities and psychologists deployed.

In Chornomorsk (Odesa Oblast), one residential building was destroyed and three more damaged; a gas pipe was damaged and a fire broke out. Five people were injured there, including four children. A hotel building housing a rehabilitation centre and parked vehicles nearby were also damaged.

Elsewhere, Russian drones struck Zaporizhzhia's private sector, destroying a private house, killing a 64-year-old woman and a 37-year-old man, and wounding a 59-year-old woman. A fire covered around 150 square meters. In Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast), ballistic missiles struck an industrial enterprise; one person was killed and two or three were injured (sources differ), with a medical facility, educational institutions and homes also damaged. In Dnipro, a fire broke out at an industrial enterprise, with no casualties according to preliminary information. Russian forces also attacked four districts of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast nearly 20 times, striking Nikopol and the Marhanets community.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

All available sources are Ukrainian, and they uniformly frame the strikes as Russian or "enemy" aggression ("Росія вдарила", "атака РФ", "ворожа атака"). Coverage centers on the civilian impact in Odesa Oblast: damage to a multi-storey residential building including upper-floor fires, injuries to children and a five-month-old baby, damage to gas pipelines, and the deployment of an operational headquarters with rescuers, utilities and psychologists. Ukrainian reporting emphasizes air-defense performance and Air Force reporting, detailing the specific weapon types used and the number of aerial targets intercepted. Head of the Odesa City Military Administration Serhiy Lysak and head of the Odesa Oblast Military Administration Oleh Kiper both communicated the consequences via Telegram.

Where reporting differs

Sources do not agree on the number of injured in Odesa: as the morning progressed, the figure rose from 3 to 6, then to 12, then to at least 16, and several sources later said at least 17; one earlier report cited 16 without mentioning a five-month-old baby. In Kryvyi Rih, sources differ on the number of wounded from the strike on the industrial enterprise — some report two injured, others three.

Background

The attack is described as a combined strike using Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, Kalibr cruise missiles, Kh-59/69 guided air missiles, and a large number of strike drones, including Shahed-type and decoy variants. Air-defense intercept figures and the count of impact locations (20 hit sites plus 4 debris sites) were reported by the Ukrainian Air Force.