Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a massive air attack on Ukraine, killing at least four people including a 12-year-old girl in Kyiv and inflicting damage to civilian infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the September 28 attack, which comes after the Kremlin warned NATO about taking action over alleged incursions of its airspace, "vile," saying it showed Moscow wants to pursue war, not peace.
"Savage strikes, a deliberate, targeted terror against ordinary cities – nearly 500 attack drones and over 40 missiles, including Kinzhal missiles," Zelenskyy said in a social media post.
"Moscow wants to keep fighting and killing, and it deserves the toughest pressure from the world. The Kremlin benefits from continuing this war and terror as long as it earns revenue from energy and operates a shadow fleet," he added.
Zelenskyy said some 500 drones and 40 missiles were fired at several regions, hitting targets such as an industrial bakery, a tire factory, houses, and apartment buildings.
The 12-year-old girl was one of four killed in the capital, while dozens of others were injured, he added.
Lyudmyla, a neighbor of the girl killed in the attack, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that the family had just returned from abroad for the beginning of the school year when their apartment was struck.
"They had such a cheerful little girl -- she did sports, studied English... This is just shocking," Lyudmyla added.
"The Russians have restarted the child death counter," Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration, said in a post on Telegram.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said a medical facility and a kindergarten were also struck. He added that a fire had also broken out at a gas station due to falling debris.
The attack on Ukraine on September 28 also injured dozens in the country's major southern city of Zaporizhzhya. At least three of them are children, regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said.
"Forty-one apartment buildings, 22 houses, and several nonresidential structures were damaged as a result of the enemy attacks," Fedorov added.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed it had carried out the attack to target Ukraine's military infrastructure. Russian officials have repeatedly denied targeting civilian sites, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
Dim Prospects For Peace
The strikes come at a time when prospects for peace seem as distant as ever and Russia's full-scale invasion nears to continue into its fourth winter.
A US effort to broker a peace deal has brought little progress. The positions of Ukraine and Russia remain far apart, and US President Donald Trump has so far not succeeded in organizing a trilateral summit or a face-to-face meeting between Russian and Ukrainian presidents.
Meanwhile, international concerns continue to grow that the conflict could spread deeper into Europe after Russian drones landed on Polish soil and Russian fighter aircraft reportedly entered Estonian airspace.
Zelenskyy, in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York City, warned the world is in "the most destructive arms race in human history" and urged the international community to act against Russia.
Trump told the UNGA that he believed Ukraine could win back all territory lost to Russia, an apparent shift from his repeated calls for Kyiv to make concessions to end the war sparked by President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbor.
