Russia launches large-scale combined missile and drone strike on Ukraine overnight, killing two in Kyiv
On the night of 24 September 2026, Russia attacked Ukraine with Zircon anti-ship missiles, Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 282 drones, with the main strikes directed at Kyiv, Kyiv Oblast and Odesa Oblast. Ukrainian air defence destroyed or suppressed 227 targets. Two people were killed and eight injured in Kyiv, and damage was reported in multiple regions.
Key points
- Attack on night of 24 September used Zircon anti-ship missiles, Iskander-M/S-400/KN-23 ballistic missiles and 282 drones
- Main strike directions: Kyiv, Kyiv Oblast and Odesa Oblast
- Air defence destroyed or suppressed 227 targets, including 4 Zircons, 3 ballistic missiles, 1 Banderol/Dan-T and 219 drones
- In Kyiv, 2 people were killed and 8 injured; hits recorded at 13 locations and debris at another 10
- In Odesa, medical and educational facilities and residential buildings were damaged; no casualties reported
- In Khmelnytskyi, a residential multi-storey building was hit; in Rivne Oblast infrastructure was damaged but no injuries reported
- President Zelensky said 60% of the ballistic missiles aimed at Kyiv were shot down overnight
- Trains to Uzhhorod, Przemyśl, Lviv and Truskavets ran 4–6 hours late due to the drone attack
Why it matters
The attack combined cruise anti-ship missiles, ballistic missiles and a large drone salvo, indicating a high-intensity, multi-vector strike pattern. It directly hit residential and civilian infrastructure in multiple regions, including a maternity hospital area, warehouses, a residential apartment block, medical and educational facilities, and a Nova Poshta sorting depot. Two people were killed and eight injured in Kyiv alone, with additional injuries reported in Kyiv Oblast.
What happened
On the night of 24 September 2026, Russia launched a combined air attack on Ukraine using Zircon anti-ship missiles, Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 282 drones of various types, including Shahed, Gerbera and other UAVs. Ballistic missiles were launched from Kursk, Rostov and Oryol oblasts in Russia, while drones were launched from multiple sites including Orel, Millerovo, Shatalovo, Kursk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk and from temporarily occupied Donetsk, Hvardiiske and Chauda in Crimea. The main strike directions were Kyiv, Kyiv Oblast and Odesa Oblast.
As of 08:00, Ukrainian air defence reported destroying or suppressing 227 targets: four Zircon anti-ship missiles, three Iskander-M/S-400/KN-23 ballistic missiles, one Banderol/Dan-T and 219 drones. Hits were recorded at 13 locations and falling debris at another 10.
In Kyiv, 2 people were killed and 8 were injured. Damage was reported in the Solomianskyi district (warehouses), the Podilskyi district (a missile hit near a maternity hospital, with one person killed in the parking lot) and the Dnipro district (an administrative building and a private house). A Nova Poshta sorting depot in Kyiv was also damaged. Police explosives technicians neutralized an undetonated 227 kg warhead from a Russian ballistic missile that fell in open terrain in the Darnytsky district, and State Emergency Service sappers removed the remnants of an Iskander-M that fell in the courtyard of a residential building but failed to detonate.
In Odesa, medical and educational facilities and residential buildings were damaged, with no casualties reported. In Khmelnytskyi, a residential multi-storey building was hit; in Rivne Oblast infrastructure was damaged, but no people were injured according to preliminary data. Drone activity continued into the morning across western and central oblasts, and trains to Uzhhorod, Przemyśl, Lviv and Truskavets ran 4–6 hours late. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that 60% of the ballistic missiles aimed at Kyiv were shot down overnight.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
All available sources are Ukrainian-language media and state agencies. They uniformly identify Russia as the attacker and frame the event as a terrorist air strike on civilian and infrastructure targets. Coverage emphasizes the regional spread of consequences across Kyiv, Odesa, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi and Kyiv Oblast, and includes operational detail such as the sappers' disposal of an undetonated Iskander-M warhead. Ukrainian officials are quoted by name — President Zelensky, OVA heads Serhiy Tyurin (Khmelnytskyi) and Oleksandr Koval (Rivne), and Odesa MVA head Serhiy Lysak — centring institutional Ukrainian voices. Several articles spotlight non-military infrastructure damage — warehouses, a maternity hospital, a Nova Poshta sorting depot, residential blocks — underlining the civilian impact.
Where reporting differs
Sources differ on casualty counts for Kyiv: most report 2 killed and 8 injured, while earlier reporting mentioned 2 killed without specifying the injured count, and Kyiv Oblast was reported separately as having 1 injured.
Reports also differ on which districts of Kyiv were damaged: one set of sources mentions Solomianskyi, Podilskyi and Dnipro districts with a maternity hospital hit and warehouses damaged, while another mentions Darnytsky district in connection with the neutralization of the undetonated warhead.
Sources disagree on the air-defence tally: some state 227 targets were shot down or suppressed, while others describe 7 missiles plus 219 drones neutralized — totaling 226 — and one figure for the number of downed drones is flagged as disputed.
Background
An Iskander-M missile fell in the courtyard of a residential building in Kyiv but failed to detonate; sappers of the State Emergency Service removed the safe remnants using a heavy pyrotechnic vehicle and a manipulator and transported them for disposal. Police explosives technicians separately neutralized an undetonated 227 kg warhead from a Russian ballistic missile that landed in open terrain in the Darnytsky district of Kyiv. Drone activity continued into the morning across western and central Ukraine, with trains to Uzhhorod, Przemyśl, Lviv and Truskavets running 4–6 hours late, and air-raid sirens continuing in Rivne Oblast.