Russia strikes Ukrainian defence facilities as attacks kill at least eight in Kyiv

Russia and Ukraine traded heavy aerial strikes on September 25, 2026. Russian drone attacks in Kyiv killed at least five people, including a 14-year-old boy, and injured dozens. In response to the escalating threat, steelmaker ArcelorMittal announced the shutdown of Ukraine's largest steel plant, dealing a severe blow to the nation's economy. Meanwhile, Ukrainian retaliatory drone strikes targeted Russian infrastructure, hitting oil refineries in Rostov and Perm, and damaging a passenger train in Samara.

Russian claims of military strikes

• ▪The Russian Defence Ministry stated its forces conducted overnight drone strikes on September 25, 2026 targeting a drone assembly site in the Kyiv region, logistics hubs in Odesa, and port infrastructure in Reni.
• ▪The Russian Defence Ministry stated its forces struck two cargo vessels carrying military supplies to the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk, and a military data centre on September 25, 2026.

Attack on McDonald's warehouse

• ▪Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the world to respond to Russian terror after a McDonald's food warehouse was hit on September 25, 2026.
• ▪A Russian drone strike on September 25, 2026 hit a food warehouse used by McDonald's in the Kyiv region.

Shutdown of ArcelorMittal steel plant

• ▪Steelmaker ArcelorMittal announced on September 25, 2026 that it is shutting down production at Ukraine's largest steel plant in the southeastern region.
• ▪The ArcelorMittal steel plant shutdown announced on September 25, 2026, impacts approximately 12,500 employees and 3,500 contractors
• ▪The shutdown of the ArcelorMittal plant announced on September 25, 2026 damages Ukraine's steel sector, which previously accounted for 15 percent of exports but faces pressure from Russian attacks and EU trade restrictions
• ▪ArcelorMittal informed the Ukrainian government that safe operations were impossible after four strikes in five weeks caused extensive damage and killed five workers at its southeastern steel plant

Casualties from Kyiv airstrikes

• ▪A Russian drone strike on a 16-story residential building in central Kyiv on September 25, 2026 killed a 14-year-old boy.
• ▪A separate daytime Russian strike on an office building in Kyiv on September 25, 2026 killed four people whose bodies were found in a parking lot.
• ▪The Russian airstrikes on Kyiv on September 25, 2026 injured dozens of people, with Mayor Vitali Klitschko reporting 59 injuries and emergency services reporting at least seven injuries in central Kyiv.

Ukrainian strikes on Russian targets

• ▪Ukrainian drone strikes on September 25, 2026 targeted an oil refinery in Perm, killing one man, and hit a defence enterprise in the Ulyanovsk region, injuring eight people.
• ▪A Ukrainian drone strike on September 25, 2026 temporarily suspended operations at the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia's Rostov region, with Governor Yury Slyusar reporting no casualties.
• ▪A Ukrainian strike on September 25, 2026 damaged a passenger train in the Samara region, injuring the driver and suspending rail traffic, while a drone strike in Belgorod killed one civilian truck driver.
• ▪Kremlin-installed official Yevgeny Balitsky stated that a Ukrainian strike on September 25, 2026 killed three aid volunteers delivering humanitarian aid in the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia region.

Impact on Ukrainian civilians

• ▪Kyiv's metro stations doubled as overnight shelters for residents seeking safety from increasing Russian aerial assaults on September 23, 2026.
• ▪The UN monitoring mission in Ukraine recorded at least 200 civilian deaths in September 2026 from attacks that damaged homes, hospitals, shops, and workplaces.

Economic impact of the war

• ▪Ukrainian officials stated that the economic impact of Russian airstrikes is cutting tax revenue and widening the government's budget gap as it seeks to finance the war.
• ▪Ukraine boosted attacks on Russian defence, energy, and online retail sectors to undermine revenues and support for Moscow's war effort by September 25, 2026.

Debatable claims

• ▪Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russian territory do more harm than good to Ukraine's defense
• ▪Industrial facilities like steel plants and oil refineries are legitimate military targets in the Ukraine war
• ▪Russia's airstrikes on Kyiv are justified as targeting military and logistics infrastructure