Russia pounds Kyiv, other regions in mass drone and missile attack

KYIV - Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine early on Sept 28, killing at least four people and injuring dozens, in one of the most sustained attacks on the capital since full-scale war began.

Neighbouring Poland closed its airspace near two south-eastern cities and its air force scrambled jets in response until the danger had passed.

Ukraine’s military said Russia launched 595 drones and 48 missiles overnight, and that its air defences shot down 568 drones and 43 missiles. It noted that the main target of the strike was the capital Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attack, which lasted more than 12 hours, killed four people, including a child, with two of the deaths occurring at a Kyiv cardiology clinic.

He said 80 people were injured in the strikes and factories, residential buildings and energy-generating sites were damaged.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said it carried out a “massive” attack on Ukraine using long-range air- and sea-based weapons and drones to target military infrastructure, including airfields.

Moscow has denied targeting civilians in its war against Ukraine, although thousands have been killed and residential areas extensively damaged by its attacks.

Zelensky urges international partners to act

Mr Zelensky again urged the international community to act decisively to cut off Russia’s energy revenues that fund its invasion. Ukraine has so far failed to convince US President Donald Trump to impose punitive sanctions on Moscow.

“The time for decisive action is long overdue, and we count on a strong response from the United States, Europe, the G-7, and the G-20,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.

Speaking in his nightly video address, Mr Zelensky said that while the UN was holding General Assembly sessions, Russia had “literally used every day, every hour, to strike at Ukraine. Vile strikes.”

Mr Zelensky said it was important that further sanctions on Russia to be adopted by Europe target Russia’s energy resources, particularly its tanker fleet.

He described the overnight attack on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia as “extraordinarily fierce” with nearly 40 injured.

Kyiv awoke to loud explosions, drones flying overhead and air defences booming. Smoke from one of the strike sites drifted across the morning sky as the air raid alert ended at 9.13am (2.13pm Singapore time), nearly seven hours after it had begun.

Reuters journalists visited an area in the suburbs of Kyiv, where two rows of newly built homes were almost totally destroyed, and cars parked nearby were flattened by falling debris.

Residents sifted through the wreckage of an apartment block after their windows were blown in by the force of a blast.

Some people hurried to metro stations underground, from where they followed events on their mobile phones.

Ukraine’s defences stretched by large-scale attacks

Attacks on such a scale have stretched Ukraine’s limited air defences throughout 2025. Mr Zelensky said on Sept 27 that an additional Patriot missile system from Israel has been deployed, and he expects two more to arrive.

He and other officials have asked international partners for more to protect Ukraine’s skies, but air defence systems are limited in availability, and other nations are keen to bolster their defences amid perceived threats from Russia. REUTERS