Russia hits Ukraine with 212 drones and multiple missile types overnight; Ukraine strikes Samara refinery

Why it matters

The attack combined Oniks, Iskander-M, S-400 and KN-23 ballistic missiles, Kalibr cruise missiles and Banderol/Dan-T munitions with a 212-drone swarm, the kind of coordinated, multi-axis strike that has repeatedly hit Ukrainian critical infrastructure and residential areas. Russian missiles and drones registered hits at 22 locations, killing civilians and damaging industrial and energy sites in Dnipro, Poltava oblast, Kyiv and Brovary. Ukraine's reciprocal strike on the Rosneft-owned Kuibyshev refinery in Samara shows deep-strike operations continuing on both sides. The events coincide with Zelenskyy's planned meeting with Trump at the UN General Assembly, where he intends to press for more Patriot systems, and with France's pledge of additional radars to protect the power grid.

What happened

In the night of 22 September 2026, Russia launched what the Ukrainian Air Force described as a large-scale combined attack on Ukraine. Multiple missile types were used: Oniks anti-ship missiles from Rostov Oblast; Iskander-M, S-400 and KN-23 ballistic missiles from Kursk, Rostov and Voronezh oblasts; four Kalibr cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea; and eight Banderol/Dan-T missiles from Belgorod Oblast airspace. Alongside the missiles, 212 Shahed-type strike drones, including jet-powered variants, and Parodiya decoy drones were launched from sites in Russia's Oryol, Millerovo, Shatalovo, Kursk and Primorsko-Akhtarsk, and from occupied Donetsk, Hvardiiske and Chauda in Crimea. Air-raid alerts were declared across eastern, central and western oblasts.

As of 08:00, the Air Force reported that aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare and unmanned-systems units and mobile fire groups had shot down or suppressed 186 of the incoming targets: one Kalibr cruise missile, eight Banderol/Dan-T munitions and 177 Shahed, Gerbera and other-type drones. Hits by missiles and strike drones were recorded at 22 locations, with debris from downed targets falling at 4 more.

In Dnipro, a Russian ballistic-missile strike hit an enterprise; accounts differ on the casualty toll, with one report citing 2 killed and 6 wounded and another 4 killed and 6 wounded. In Kyiv's Dnipro district a Russian drone struck a five-storey residential building, with the blast wave damaging three nearby buildings; five people were injured in Kyiv overall. In Kyiv's Darnytskyi district debris fell on the grounds of a private house. In Brovary district of Kyiv oblast a fire broke out in a warehouse building and on the roof of an outbuilding, and part of Brovary was left without electricity. Poltava Oblast was hit heavily: in Kremenchuk district an industrial enterprise and a critical-infrastructure object came under fire, and in another part of the oblast a drone fell on an agricultural enterprise, damaging an outbuilding and equipment without casualties. Industrial enterprises in Kryvyi Rih and Pavlohrad in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast were also damaged.

Earlier, on 21 September, presidential technology adviser Serhiy (Flash) Beskrestnov had warned that Russia would try to attack areas west of Kyiv with gasoline-powered Shaheds, using poor weather as cover — a warning borne out by overnight tracks of jet-powered drones through Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia and Chernivtsi oblasts.

In a reciprocal overnight operation, Ukrainian drones struck the Kuibyshev oil refinery in Samara, southeast of Moscow. The Rosneft-owned refinery, which produces gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and other petroleum products for central Russia, was hit several times and a large fire broke out; regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev reported one person killed and four wounded. Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had downed 297 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions and Crimea overnight.

The events came as President Zelenskyy was scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump and other world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York, where he plans to press Trump to send additional US-made Patriot air-defence systems. French President Emmanuel Macron said France would provide Ukraine with more radars to help protect its power grid.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

Ukrainian-language outlets led with granular operational detail: launch sites in Oryol, Millerovo, Shatalovo, Kursk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk and occupied Crimea for the drones; Rostov, Kursk, Voronezh and Belgorod oblasts and the Caspian Sea for the missiles. They stressed the contribution of aviation, anti-aircraft missile, electronic-warfare and unmanned-systems units and mobile fire groups in repelling the attack, and listed the 186 targets neutralised out of 212 drones and multiple missiles. Their reporting foregrounded impacts on Ukrainian soil — Dnipro, Poltava and Kremenchuk district, Kryvyi Rih, Pavlohrad, Kyiv and Brovary — and highlighted strikes on industrial enterprises and critical-infrastructure objects, including the power outage in Brovary. They also carried the Ukrainian deep strike on the Kuibyshev refinery in Samara with the regional governor's casualty figures, and underlined Zelenskyy's planned UN General Assembly meeting with Trump and his push for additional Patriot systems.

How international sources describe it

ABC News, the sole English-language source, framed the night's events as mutual "deadly strikes" between Russia and Ukraine. It led with the diplomatic backdrop — Zelenskyy's scheduled meeting with Trump at the UN General Assembly and Macron's pledge of additional radars to protect Ukraine's power grid — rather than with a catalogue of launch coordinates and interception counts. It gave the Russian Defence Ministry's claim that 297 Ukrainian drones had been downed over 14 Russian regions and Crimea prominent placement, lending weight to Moscow's account of the aerial exchange. Zelenskyy's planned request for more US-made Patriot air-defence systems was central to the framing, alongside the strikes themselves.

Where reporting differs

Casualty figures from the Russian ballistic-missile strike on an enterprise in Dnipro diverge: one account reports two killed and six wounded, while another states the toll later rose to four killed and six wounded. The Russian Defence Ministry claims 297 Ukrainian drones were downed over 14 Russian regions and Crimea overnight; this figure is not corroborated elsewhere in the material.

Background

On 21 September, presidential technology adviser Serhiy (Flash) Beskrestnov warned that Russia would try to attack areas west of Kyiv using gasoline-powered Shaheds, using bad weather as cover — a warning borne out by overnight drone tracks through Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia and Chernivtsi oblasts. The Kuibyshev oil refinery in Samara, southeast of Moscow, is owned by Rosneft and produces gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and other petroleum products for central Russia.