The attacks came just before President Volodymyr Zelensky’s scheduled address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he was expected to press for stronger air‑defence support amid an intensifying Russian drone and missile campaign.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told the UN Security Council that Europe was trying to “pump the Kyiv regime with weapons” and insisted the war would continue unabated, rejecting any notion of a cease‑fire or pause.
Kyiv officials said the strikes damaged gas stations, offices, a college building, businesses and the rail network, and caused internet outages for roughly 100,000 households.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of targeting civilian data centres to block information about incoming missiles and drones, calling such sites “critical civilian infrastructure” that are not legitimate military targets.
Witnesses in Kyiv described clouds of smoke and the smell of burning after the raids; workers evacuated a canteen after a building was hit, only to experience a second strike seconds later.
In the Donbas region, a residential building in Oleksandrivka, west of Kramatorsk, was struck, killing at least four people, including a child, while regional human‑rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said up to eight more may still be trapped under the rubble.
In Odesa’s Black Sea port, a cargo ship’s captain was killed when the vessel, sailing under the Antigua and Barbuda flag, was hit, adding to at least 226 civilian and commercial vessels struck since the war began, according to Turkey’s shipping chamber.
An AFP analysis of the ACLED conflict monitor showed that the first 18 days of September recorded more Russian strikes than any full month since the war’s start, except March 2022, with 118 incidents logged so far.
The heightened campaign underscores Kyiv region’s suffering and raises concerns among Western officials; US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged both sides to stop attacks on energy targets, while US President Donald Trump invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in Miami.