Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine overnight into Thursday, injuring at least 18 people and damaging both residential and civilian infrastructure, according to Ukrainian officials.
The assault began in the early hours of September 17, with explosions reported throughout the capital. Local authorities stated that residential buildings, offices, warehouses, and other facilities in several Kyiv districts suffered damage.
Two children were among those wounded in the capital. Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, noted that the casualty count increased through the morning as emergency crews surveyed the destruction.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia deployed both ballistic and cruise missiles, along with 157 attack and decoy drones. Ukrainian air defenses managed to shoot down or neutralize 131 aerial targets, though missile and drone strikes occurred at 36 different sites.
The attacks were not confined to Kyiv. Ukrainian officials said the Kyiv, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia regions were among the main targets. In Odesa, several people were also injured, and damage to residential buildings and other civilian sites was reported.
Emergency services in Kyiv responded to incidents across multiple districts, addressing damage to buildings, vehicles, and warehouses as crews worked to clear debris and assess the full scale of destruction.
The overnight offensive occurred amid ongoing hostilities, despite recent diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the conflict. Earlier in the week, Reuters reported that Russia had conducted another major drone attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed its strikes targeted industrial, energy, and transport infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Ukrainian officials, however, continued to document widespread damage to civilian sites in the aftermath of the latest assault.
By Thursday, casualty numbers and the full extent of the damage were still being updated as emergency workers remained active across the affected regions.
