Russian missile and drone strikes killed eight people in Ukraine on Thursday, September 24, including two people in the capital Kyiv and six others in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Ukrainian officials said.
The overnight assault on Kyiv came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he called for greater international pressure on Russia.
According to Reuters, Russian forces launched a large-scale aerial attack involving ballistic and hypersonic missiles as well as hundreds of drones. Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 282 attack drones during the overnight barrage, alongside Zircon anti-ship missiles and Iskander and other ballistic missiles. Ukrainian air-defence forces reported intercepting or suppressing 227 aerial targets, including 219 drones and several missiles.
In Kyiv, two people were killed and several others injured after missiles struck the capital. Debris fell across several districts, damaging residential properties and other civilian infrastructure.
A maternity hospital was among the facilities damaged in the attack. Windows and part of the hospital’s façade were damaged, while cars were set on fire in a nearby parking area. A clinical and diagnostic centre was also affected.
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Zelenskyy condemned the strikes and said civilian infrastructure had again been targeted.
“As people were sleeping, flashes from explosions lit up the sky,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram. “Once again, the main targets of their strike were Kyiv and civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, a maternity hospital, energy infrastructure, and logistics.”
The attack also caused damage to houses, warehouses, vehicles and other buildings in the capital. Emergency crews were deployed to several locations to extinguish fires and search damaged areas.
In the Kharkiv region, six people were killed when a Russian drone struck an agricultural facility in the village of Stara Hnylytsia, according to regional authorities. Twelve other people were injured in the attack, with those wounded identified as farm workers.
The latest strikes came as Russia and Ukraine remain locked in a war that has entered its fifth year since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Zelenskyy has continued to appeal to Western countries for stronger military and diplomatic measures against Moscow. In his UN address, he argued that continued pressure was necessary to prevent the war from spreading further.
The latest attacks underline the continuing danger faced by civilians in Ukraine, even as diplomatic discussions involving the United States, Russia and Ukraine continue.
