Russia and Ukraine Exchange Massive Drone and Missile Strikes

The Federal Government of Russia and Ukraine engaged in a series of reciprocal long-range strikes between September 23 and 25, 2026, targeting industrial, energy, and civilian infrastructure. Russian forces launched three waves of ballistic missiles and drones, killing at least eight people across Ukraine. A strike on a vegetable storage facility in the Kharkiv region killed six agricultural workers, while attacks in Kyiv killed at least seven people, including a 14-year-old boy and three individuals in the Solomyansky district. Russian strikes also damaged a maternity hospital and residential buildings in the capital.

Ukraine responded with massive drone campaigns targeting Russian oil refineries and defense plants. Ukrainian drones struck the Kuibyshev oil refinery in the Samara region and the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Rostov, the latter of which suspended operations. Long-range strikes reached as far as Perm, 1,500 kilometers from the border, and targeted the Iskra electronics plant in Ulyanovsk. These attacks caused at least two deaths in Russia and multiple injuries in Voronezh and Ulyanovsk.

Ukrainian officials reported a surge in Russian turbojet-powered drones, which have reduced Ukraine's interception rate from 90% to 60%. President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the United States to provide more ballistic interceptors and maintain sanctions to starve the Russian military machine. Meanwhile, the United States invited Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in Miami this December, though reports suggest he may attend a summit in China instead.