Russian forces launched a large-scale overnight drone assault on Ukraine early September 30, using 65 strike drones from six different directions, according to Ukraine’s Air Force. Most of the drones were intercepted by Ukrainian air defenses.
The military said the attack involved Shahed drones, as well as Geran and other types, launched from Russia’s Bryansk, Orel, Kursk, Millerovo and Primorsko-Akhtarsk regions, as well as from Chornomorske in Crimea. More than 40 of the drones were Shahed models.
Ukrainian defense forces deployed aircraft, electronic warfare units, mobile fire groups and other assets to repel the assault. By 9:00 a.m. local time, 46 drones had been shot down or neutralized across northern, southern, eastern and central Ukraine, officials reported.
Nineteen drones hit targets in six locations, while debris from downed drones fell in two areas.
Civilian casualties reported
Regional authorities in Sumy said a couple and their two young children were killed when a drone strike hit a residential building in the village of Chernechchyna. Emergency crews recovered the bodies of the parents and their sons, aged 6 and 4, from the rubble.
In Kyiv region, one woman was injured when drones struck overnight, damaging a private house, farm buildings and a car in Brovary district. Local officials confirmed that Ukrainian air defenses were active and no critical infrastructure was hit. The injured woman, born in 1950, suffered a hypertensive crisis and stress reaction and was treated at the scene.
In Chernihiv region, a strike damaged an energy facility, leaving more than 26,000 customers in Bobrovytsia and surrounding settlements without power.
Strikes across Dnipropetrovsk region
On September 29, multiple attacks were reported in Dnipropetrovsk region. In Pokrovsk community, two women were injured, and a cultural center and two emergency service vehicles were damaged. In Mezhivska community, a drone strike caused a fire at a private household, which firefighters later extinguished. In Nikopol district, residential houses and farm buildings were also hit.
Russia to intensify strikes
Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Ivan Havryliuk, warned that Moscow is preparing to step up air attacks against energy infrastructure and civilian homes in an attempt to pressure Ukrainian society and its international partners.
