Russia launches massive drone attack across central Ukraine, killing three in Fastiv district and hitting Suziria warehouse

Why it matters

The salvo of 174 Shahed-type strike drones — alongside Gerbera and decoy drones, Banderol/Dan-T loitering munitions and two Zircon anti-ship missiles — made this one of the larger single-night Russian attacks of the war and forced air-raid alerts in Kyiv Oblast to sound almost continuously for about 24 hours. Beyond the human toll, including the deaths of a mother and her two small children in Fastiv district, the strikes knocked out logistics infrastructure that civilians rely on: a more than 8,000-square-metre Suziria Group warehouse (parent of the MasterZoo chain), warehouses in Dnipro and food warehouses in Kryvyi Rih. This continues a pattern of attacks on Ukrainian commercial and logistics sites that have already destroyed facilities belonging to NOVUS, Rozetka, Silpo and Nova Poshta and damaged more than 500,000 square metres of logistics real estate over the past year.

What happened

Russian forces attacked Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad and Kyiv oblasts with strike drones on 18–19 September 2026, in what the Ukrainian Air Force described as a salvo of 174 Shahed-type strike UAVs — about half of them jet-powered — together with Gerbera and Parodiya decoy drones, Banderol/Dan-T loitering munitions and two Zircon anti-ship missiles. Air-raid alerts in Kyiv Oblast lasted almost continuously for around 24 hours, according to the head of the Kyiv Oblast Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko.

In Kyiv Oblast, nine civilian objects were damaged across four districts: three in Obukhiv, one in Vyshhorod, two in Boryspil and three in Bucha. Five of the damaged objects were warehouses; a multi-storey apartment building, a production premises, a garage premises and vehicles were also hit. Overnight into 19 September, drones struck a warehouse belonging to Suziria Group (Suziria Ukraine), a supplier of pet products and the parent company of the MasterZoo pet-store chain; the warehouse covered more than 8,000 square metres. A fire broke out and firefighters were still working at the site in the morning. Suziria Ukraine said no employees were injured. In Bucha district, a fire broke out in a warehouse on the territory of an office-logistics complex and rescuers had periodically to retreat because of repeated air-raid alerts. A private house was damaged in Obukhiv district.

In Fastiv district a woman was reported wounded earlier on 19 September and taken to hospital. Later the same day, a Russian attack killed a mother and her two small children — a girl and a boy — and damaged private houses and a car; a fire broke out in one of the houses and was extinguished. In Vyshhorod district on the evening of 19 September, a mother and her child were injured and hospitalised; an educational institution and a bus were also damaged.

In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the head of the oblast military administration, Oleksandr Hanzha, said Russian drones struck warehouses in Dnipro during the day, causing a fire, and later hit food warehouses in Kryvyi Rih, again causing a fire; information on casualties in Kryvyi Rih was being clarified. In Kirovohrad Oblast, the head of the oblast military administration, Andrii Raikovych, said Ukrainian air defence shot down the Russian drones over Kropyvnytskyi but falling debris damaged several private houses; no one was injured. Reports from the evening of 18 September also described two men injured by shrapnel in Bucha district and hospitalised.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

Ukrainian official sources frame the attack as a deliberate strike on civilian infrastructure and homes. Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv Oblast Military Administration, said on 19 September that air-raid alerts in the oblast had lasted almost continuously throughout the day and that the Russian army was again striking civilian infrastructure, warehouses, production facilities and people's homes. Ukrainian reporting also places the strike on the Suziria warehouse in the context of a wider pattern of attacks on Ukrainian logistics: in August 2025 Russian strikes destroyed warehouses and logistics centres belonging to NOVUS, Rozetka, Silpo and Nova Poshta, and more than 500,000 square metres of logistics real estate has been damaged over the past year.

Where reporting differs

Sources differ on three points. First, on the size of the MasterZoo network: most reporting describes around 200 stores in 36 cities, while one source says 38 cities. Second, on the nature of the strike on the Suziria warehouse: most reporting describes it as a drone strike, but the company itself characterised it as a combined rocket-and-drone strike. Third, on the Fastiv district picture: earlier reports on 19 September described a single wounded woman being taken to hospital, while later reporting on the same day in the same district recorded a mother and her two small children being killed.

Background

Ukraine's Air Force regularly publishes tallies of the Russian strike weapons used in overnight attacks, including Shahed drones and supporting decoy and loitering-munition types. The head of the Kyiv Oblast Military Administration, Tymur (Timur) Tkachenko, is the principal on-the-record source for damage reports from the oblast. In the weeks before this attack, Russian strikes had already hit logistics centres and warehouses of major Ukrainian companies — NOVUS, Rozetka, Silpo and Nova Poshta — and more than 500,000 square metres of logistics real estate had been damaged over the past year. Suziria Group is the parent company of MasterZoo, described as one of Ukraine's largest pet-products retailers, with around 200 stores in roughly 36 cities.