- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attacks “deliberate, targeted terror”
- More than 500 Russian manufactured Shahed drones and cruise missiles came in two distinct waves
- Army Technology is reporting from the Western city of Lviv, with the attack among the largest of the war so far
Days after US President Donald Trump suggested that Ukraine could take back all of its territory seized by “paper tiger” Russia, Moscow conducted a country-wide air attack at Ukrainian cities using nearly 500 Shahed attack drones and dozens of cruise missiles.
Army Technology is reporting from the city of Lviv in the west of Ukraine, which saw multiple air raid sirens alerting residents throughout the night of the sustained Russian assault. Emergency alerts routed through mobile phones issued warnings for residents to seek shelter underground.
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More central and western cities, including Kyiv, were directly hit, causing a number of fatalities and injuries, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Taking to social media, Zelenskyy said the “massive” Russian attack on Ukraine last for more than 12 hours, accusing Moscow of conducting “savage strikes, a deliberate targeted terror against ordinary cities”.
The main targets of the strikes, Zelenskyy added, were Kyiv and the Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Odesa regions.
In the capital, the building of the Cardiology Institute was damaged. Elsewhere civilian factories, apartment buildings, and other civilian infrastructure were struck.
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By GlobalData“The time for decisive action is long overdue, and we count on a strong response from the United States, Europe, the G7, and the G20,” Zelenskyy said.
In western Lviv, the city awoke to a crisp, clear morning, church bells typically ringing on a Sunday as congregations gathered for reflection, provided a temporary reprieve from Moscow’s ongoing war.
Massed Russian drone attack follows pattern
The sustained assault of Russia on Ukrainian cities through 27-28 September follow a particular pattern, with Moscow opting to build up resources to launch massed waves of drones and missiles, likely in a bid to saturate and overwhelm air defences.
Earlier in September, Russia launched its largest air attack of the more than three-and-a-half-year-old war, firing 810 drones and 13 missiles at Ukrainian cities, according to figures provided by the UK government on 22 September.
However, smaller attacks occur on a daily basis causing significant devastation and loss of life, with a single Russian drone killing 25 civilians in mid-September.
Russia has also tested the borders of Nato countries along the eastern front of the alliance, with incursions into Estonian and Polish airspace by drone and fighters. Army Technology’s John Hill was recently provided access to Nato air policing operation at Ämari Air Base, the full story is available here.
Elsewhere, on 28 September Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence provided its daily casualty figures for claimed Russian personnel and materiel losses, stating 454 drones were destroyed by Ukrainian forces over the preceding 24-hour period.
In addition, Ukraine stated that it had caused a further 1,110 combat casualties on Russian forces, with the claimed total now well in excess of 1.1 million.
Army Technology is unable to independently verify the figures.
