Russian forces struck Ukraine with missiles and drones on September 17, wounding 20 people in Kyiv, hitting Odesa, Kropyvnytskyi, and the Zhytomyr region, and sending a jet-powered drone down about four kilometers from the Polish border. Across the regions covered in this report, at least seven civilians were killed and 69 injured.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched Iskander-M ballistic missiles, supersonic Onyx missiles, four Kalibr cruise missiles, 10 Banderol missiles, and 157 attack and decoy drones overnight. Air defenses destroyed or suppressed 131 targets, with impacts recorded at 36 locations.
In Kyiv, the ballistic strike damaged residential and non-residential buildings on both banks of the Dnipro, including schools, gas stations, warehouses, and a station on the city’s circular railway, in the Darnytskyi, Dniprovskyi, Solomianskyi, and Podilskyi districts. The number of injured rose to 20, five of them hospitalized, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The wounded included a 10-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy. The attack followed a previous strike that killed three people in the Kyiv region. In the Bucha district of Kyiv Oblast, a drone attack damaged private houses and a vehicle and injured a child, the regional administration reported.
In Zhytomyr Oblast, a Russian strike on an industrial park in the Korosten district killed two people and injured two, according to regional administration head Vitaliy Bunechko. In Sumy Oblast, Russian forces carried out more than 90 attacks on 27 settlements in 12 communities using mortars, artillery, drones, and guided aerial bombs, killing one person and injuring 15, including two 14-year-olds, the regional administration said.
On the eastern front, Russian forces struck 10 settlements in the Kharkiv region with a rocket, three guided bombs, and nine drones, damaging homes, vehicles, and an administrative building, with no casualties reported, according to regional governor Oleg Syniehubov.
A strike on Berestyn damaged the town’s railway station; people inside reached a shelter in time. Syniehubov said Ukrainian forces repelled 17 attacks in the Pivdenno-Slobozhansky direction.
Russian forces shelled Dnipropetrovsk Oblast more than 40 times, killing three people and injuring five, the regional administration reported. The regional prosecutor’s office said the three were killed in a drone strike on the Kamianske district, while artillery and FPV drones hit the Nikopol district. The region was observing a day of mourning for five people killed in the September 16 drone strike on a passenger bus in the Nikopol district, the same day Russia targeted a train in the Mykolaiv region.
On the southern front, Russia carried out 900 strikes on 50 settlements in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, including 22 airstrikes, injuring five people, regional head Ivan Fedorov said. In Kherson Oblast, drone, aviation, and artillery strikes on Kherson and 30 settlements damaged two high-rise buildings, four private houses, an administrative building, a shop, and a gas pipeline, killing one person and injuring 14, according to regional head Oleksandr Prokudin.
In Kropyvnytskyi, Russian drones struck the city for a second day, hitting a critical infrastructure facility, private houses, vehicles, and kindergarten premises and forcing the evacuation of train passengers. Regional head Andrii Raikovych reported no casualties.
In Odesa, drones hit a 19-story residential building on floors 14 through 16, destroyed a private house, and damaged outbuildings, injuring seven people, including children aged four and 13.
During the attack on western Ukraine, a Russian jet-powered drone came down about four kilometers from Poland near the Dorohusk border crossing. “There was a very massive explosion. Our aircraft were scrambled,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk told parliament the military was prepared to shoot the drone down had it approached Poland and threatened to cross the border.
Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia lost approximately 1,960 personnel over the previous day. Ukrainian losses were not disclosed. The General Staff also said Ukrainian forces struck two S-400 launchers near Vygonichi in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast.
In Washington, the House of Representatives passed legislation on September 16 allowing President Donald Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on countries buying Russian oil and gas.
Trump signed the bill on September 18. Named the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 after the late senator, who died in July, it also sanctions Putin, Russian officials, oligarchs, and financial institutions, and targets the largest buyers of Russian crude, China and India.
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