ADF down 119 drones, three Banderols in overnight Russian attack on Ukraine

Ukraine's air defense forces repelled an extensive Russian drone attack overnight into September 23, 2026, destroying 119 drones and an additional three Banderol guided missiles. The attack, which Ukrainian officials say began on the evening of September 22, targeted numerous locations across several regions of the country, including the capital Kyiv, the Odesa region, Zaporizhzhia, and the Kharkiv region. Despite the high interception rate, the assault resulted in fatalities, injuries, and significant material damage in multiple cities.

According to Ukrainian authorities, at least one person died and eight others were injured in attacks on Kyiv. A man who had been wounded in the attack later died in a Kyiv hospital. In the wider Kyiv region, three additional people were injured, with officials reporting that 18 facilities sustained damage. Reports differ slightly on the exact number of injuries within the capital itself, with several Ukrinform dispatches citing figures ranging from three to eight people hurt in different districts. The Kyiv Independent additionally reported that Russian drone strikes hit gas stations and warehouses in Kyiv, killing one person and injuring seven others.

In Kyiv's Holosiivskyi district, a Russian drone crashed into a four-story business center. A warehouse in the same district was also damaged in a drone attack, while debris from an intercepted drone fell in an open area between residential buildings in the city's Solomianskyi district. These incidents illustrate that even intercepted drones can cause damage and pose risks through falling debris.

In the Odesa region, Russian forces struck a shopping center on the morning of September 23, sparking a large fire. The evening before, jet-powered Russian drones had already damaged warehouses in the same region, killing one person and injuring two others. According to updated Ukrinform reports, Russian forces subsequently struck warehouses in the Odesa region again and hit a cargo ship flying the flag of Antigua and Barbuda in the Black Sea, killing the vessel's captain, a Ukrainian citizen.

The outlet Meduza reported that Russian attacks on Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, and the Kharkiv region using drones and aerial bombs since the evening of September 22 killed one person and injured eleven in total. This figure appears to aggregate casualties across multiple regions and differs from the region-specific numbers reported by Ukrainian authorities, which may reflect differing reporting times or a consolidation of separate incidents.

The overnight attack fits into a pattern of large-scale Russian aerial assaults in recent days. The night before, from September 21 to 22, Ukrainian air defense forces reported intercepting one Kalibr cruise missile, eight Banderol guided missiles, and 177 drones. At that time, 13 regions and the capital had come under a massive drone and missile attack, according to a Ukrainian official identified as Koretskyi. President Volodymyr Zelensky had also warned that Russia was planning a new large-scale attack on Ukraine, citing intelligence reports. That warning came the same day as the strikes on Kyiv's gas stations and warehouses.

Reports indicate that Russia has altered its attack tactics in recent weeks, shifting from primarily nighttime, large-scale drone and missile assaults to a pattern of near-continuous strikes throughout the day. This changed approach may complicate predictability for Ukrainian air defenses and could represent a response to improved Ukrainian interception capabilities.

On the Russian side, the state news agency TASS reported that Russian air defense forces intercepted Ukrainian drones during the same period: 45 drones were shot down over the course of September 21, followed by another 17 drones over three Russian regions and the Black Sea on September 22. These reports underscore that the aerial conflict is being waged by both sides, though the scale and apparent targets of the respective attacks differ substantially.

Ukrinform additionally reported continued heavy Russian losses at the front, stating that Russia lost 1,230 soldiers and one air defense system within a single 24-hour period, bringing estimated total Russian combat losses since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 to approximately 1,520,880 personnel. These figures originate from Ukrainian sources and cannot be independently verified. The overall situation remains tense, with Ukrainian officials warning that further large-scale Russian attacks cannot be ruled out.