Russia carried out rare daylight drone strikes on Kyiv on Wednesday, Sept. 23, hitting railway infrastructure, fuel stations, warehouses, and other sites as the attack stretched from morning into early afternoon, according to Ukrainian officials and multiple wire and network reports.
Casualty figures for the capital are developing and vary by source. Associated Press reporting carried by The Washington Post said two people were killed and 41 wounded. Al Jazeera (opens in new tab) and Channel News Asia/Reuters cited local officials saying at least two were killed and more than 30 injured. RFE/RL (opens in new tab)’s Ukrainian Service reported at least two killed and 22 injured, with strikes near the central railway station. The Event Record has not independently verified the counts.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a drone struck a nine-storey non-residential building, a business centre, and warehouses. Ukrnafta said one of its petrol stations was hit; authorities said two stations came under attack in total. Ukrzaliznytsia chief Oleksandr Pertsovskyi said railway infrastructure was attacked and one rail worker was injured, while the main station itself was reported undamaged. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that Russia used many drones, including jet-powered types harder to intercept, and listed civilian and critical infrastructure among the targets.
The strikes came hours after Zelenskyy’s Tuesday meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Reporting from Al Jazeera (opens in new tab), CNA/Reuters, and related wires said the leaders discussed a possible bilateral energy-related ceasefire and Ukrainian requests for more Patriot air-defence missiles ahead of winter; Zelenskyy said no agreements were reached and that he was open to “any format” of an energy ceasefire if Russia halted attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. The Event Record treats the sequence as chronological; none of the cited outlets established on the record that the Wednesday strikes were ordered as retaliation for that meeting.
Separately, Al Jazeera (opens in new tab) and CNA/Reuters reported a Russian aerial-bomb attack killed at least four people and wounded four in a Donetsk-region village, according to the regional governor—figures distinct from the Kyiv toll. On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there were no prerequisites for a peaceful negotiating track with Ukraine, while saying Russia remained open to talks and that any Putin–Zelenskyy meeting would require the Ukrainian leader to go to Moscow—a condition Kyiv has previously rejected. Zelenskyy was due to address the General Assembly later Wednesday.