Russian drone strikes on Kyiv kill 5, including 14-year-old, injure 43

Russian drone and missile attacks on Kyiv on September 25, 2026, killed at least five people, including a 14-year-old boy, and injured 43 others, as strikes continued throughout the day across multiple districts. The deadliest single strike hit a 16-story residential building in the central Pecherskyi district overnight, killing the 14-year-old boy and injuring seven people. According to the National Police, the drone struck between the 10th and 11th floors. The boy killed was an Israeli citizen, Israel's Foreign Ministry in Ukraine confirmed. Later that morning, a separate daytime attack struck an office building in the Solomianskyi district, killing four people and injuring seven others, including a child, in the building's parking lot.

The attacks came after air-raid warnings and followed ballistic missile strikes the previous night that killed two people and injured eight in Kyiv. Throughout September 25, Kyiv residents were placed under air-raid alerts at least seven times by 2:30 p.m. local time. Additional drone strikes damaged commercial buildings in the Podilskyi district, a five-story non-residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, and a medical facility in the Solomianskyi district, where three people, including a child, were hospitalized. Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that 25 people, including two children, were hospitalized as a result of the day's attacks.

Ukrainian authorities reported that Russia launched 282 attack drones and several types of missiles overnight. The broader attack extended beyond Kyiv: Odesa was also struck, with one person killed and another injured. A McDonald's warehouse in the city of Brovary in Kyiv Oblast was damaged, and data center attacks in Kyiv caused temporary service failures affecting electronic information boards at public transport stops in the western city of Lutsk.

President Volodymyr Zelensky described the strikes as part of Russia's escalation strategy, stating that Russia targets "ordinary life in and of itself," including American and other businesses, data centers, and internet providers. He said the attacks undermined people's ability to stay connected, study, and work. Zelensky labeled the strike on the residential building "absolutely savage and sickening" and "devoid of any military logic."

Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces targeted Ukrainian defence industry facilities, logistics centres, and military vessels. Russia denies deliberately attacking civilians. The United Nations monitoring mission in Ukraine reported that at least 200 civilian deaths had been recorded in September from Russian attacks that damaged homes, hospitals, shops, and workplaces.

Simultaneously, Ukrainian forces struck targets in Russia. Two people were killed in overnight drone attacks on Russian territory, including strikes on an oil refinery and a passenger train. Eight people were injured in a drone attack on the Ulyanovsk region, and four people were injured in Voronezh, according to regional governors. Russia's Defence Ministry said air defence units had destroyed 592 drones overnight.