Massive Russian Barrage Hits Ukraine, Leaving Four Dead and Dozens Injured

KYIV – Ukraine’s capital and multiple regions endured one of the most intense aerial bombardments of the war overnight Saturday and into Sunday, September 28, 2025. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the over 12-hour assault, involving an estimated 500 drones and more than 40 missiles, as “vile and brutal” terror against civilians.

Deadly Strikes on Civilian Infrastructure

The attack killed at least four people and wounded more than 70 nationwide. Kyiv bore the brunt of the casualties:

• A 12-year-old girl was crushed to death by a concrete slab after a missile struck an apartment row in the Petropavlivska Borshchahivka district.
• Two others died—a nurse and a patient—in a direct hit on the city’s cardiology institute.
• The primary targets extended beyond the capital to the regions of Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Odesa.

Zelenskyy Urges Tougher Response

President Zelenskyy framed the mass attack as Russia’s true declaration of intent just as the UN General Assembly concluded, calling it the “virtual culmination” of the week’s events. He stressed that Moscow wants to “continue to fight and kill” and called for the international community to impose the “harshest pressure” by cutting off all Russian oil imports. Zelenskyy vowed Ukraine would “strike back” against the aggression.

European Security Concerns

The widespread attack had immediate ramifications for neighboring European countries. Poland scrambled its fighter jets and raised the alert level of its ground-based air defence systems, temporarily closing airspace near its southeastern cities of Lublin and Rzeszów as a preventative measure.

Zelenskyy further warned that these actions, along with recent drone incursions in Denmark, Poland, and Romania, suggest Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to expand the conflict and is actively “checking Europe’s capacity to protect its skies.”