Russian Strikes Kill Several Across Ukraine Over Three Days

Russian strikes killed at least four people across Ukraine on Sept. 26, including two women who died under rubble in Zaporizhzhia and two people killed in Sumy, according to Reuters reporting carried by U.S. News & World Report. Follow-up attacks over the following two days, including a drone strike on Odesa Oblast on Sept. 28, added further deaths and injuries, though total casualty figures differed between outlets.⁶⁴

Conflicting casualty counts

Accounts of the death toll from the wave of Russian strikes vary by outlet. Al Jazeera reported at least 10 people killed in combined Russian and Ukrainian attacks on Sept. 26, while France 24 put the Ukraine-only toll at eight. The Kyiv Independent, reporting on Sept. 27, said Russian attacks had killed 14 people and injured 57 across the country in the preceding day, a figure not corroborated by the other sources in this account.¹³²

According to Reuters reporting, the two women who died in Zaporizhzhia were killed under rubble following an overnight barrage of drones and missiles, and two people were killed in Sumy. Al Jazeera separately reported that Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region also experienced Ukrainian strikes overnight into Saturday, killing three people, and that Russian strikes on Kyiv on Friday killed seven people and injured 58.⁶¹

Strikes across multiple regions

According to the Kyiv Independent's single-source reporting, Russian attacks over the period hit numerous regions, with four people killed and five injured in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, where Russian forces struck 59 settlements a combined 989 times. In Sumy, a glide bomb attack was reported to have killed two people and injured 28, including four children, with three children aged 14, 8 and 11 months hospitalized alongside two adults.²

Governor Vadym Filashkin said, "In Donetsk Oblast, Russian attacks killed two people in the town of Druzhkivka," while Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said, "In Kherson Oblast, Russian attacks targeted 35 settlements." The Kyiv Independent reported that Russian drones wounded five people in Kyiv that day, killing one man in the Solomianskyi district and injuring three people, including two 16-year-old children, in the Shevchenkivskyi district. The outlet also reported that 23 facilities were damaged in Kyiv Oblast and about 500 customers temporarily lost power in Poltava Oblast after a drone crash.²

Odesa Oblast targeted again

On Sept. 28, Russian drone strikes on Odesa and Odesa Oblast killed a 40-year-old woman and injured two men, aged 18 and 32, according to NV. Doctors admitted the 32-year-old to the hospital in serious condition. Civilian infrastructure, warehouses and a truck were damaged, and a postal terminal in the Odesa district was struck again after having previously been targeted by Russian forces. Warehouses and a private house caught fire, and more than 140 emergency workers were involved in extinguishing the blazes.⁴

Ukraine's Air Force warned of a jet-powered Russian drone flying over Odesa during the attack. Russia launched 295 unmanned aerial vehicles and drone-type weapons, including 52 jet-powered Shahed drones, according to NV. Ukrainian air defenses were reported to have shot down or suppressed 267 of these, with Russian aerial weapons striking 16 locations and debris from intercepted targets falling at four additional sites.⁴

Drone barrage and air defense

The Kyiv Independent reported that in the week before, Russia fired over 2,200 attack drones alongside roughly 1,650 aerial bombs and 38 missiles. Separately, Interfax-Ukraine reported that on Sept. 21, air defenses shot down or suppressed 147 of 172 enemy drones launched, with debris from downed targets registered at four locations; the Air Force described the intercepted weapons as "Shahed-type UAVs, Gerbera, other types of drones, and 1 Banderol/Dan-T."²⁵

According to the Kyiv Independent, Russia has been deploying more jet-powered drones such as the Geran-5, which the outlet said is capable of speeds up to 600 km/h, altitudes up to 6,000 metres, and a range estimated at up to 950 kilometres. Ukrainian interceptor drones have undergone successful tests, according to the outlet, though Ukraine has not announced plans for mass production.²

Diplomatic backdrop

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was escalating strikes daily. "It is essential that our partners not forget: Russia is escalating every single day," he said, adding that "if the Russians have chosen to make their strikes even more brutal, the world must choose stronger responses." He noted that the US had floated a three-way gathering of Russian, Ukrainian and American officials in the UAE, saying, "We are awaiting a proposal from the United States regarding the date, and the United States has suggested the Emirates as a possible location."¹

Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed Europe for obstructing peace negotiations and insisted Moscow would meet its military objectives no matter what. "The aims of the special military operation will be achieved, the threat to Russian security will be eliminated and peaceful life will come back," he said. Al Jazeera reported that Friday's Russian strikes also halted output at the ArcelorMittal steel plant, with the firm stating that attacks in the days prior had left five employees dead and caused significant damage to a facility.¹