Russia hits a Kharkiv high-rise overnight, injuring 43 people, then kills four in daylight strikes on central Kyiv and Dnipro

On 28 September, Russian forces launched a strike on a nine-story apartment building in Kharkiv's Saltivskyi district around 04:00, injuring 43 people, including 11 children. The victim's father carried three children out of the apartment himself, and none of them suffered serious injuries. Rescue teams managed to bring 32 people out of the building, which sustained significant damage.

A man of 43 and a 14-year-old girl remained hospitalized with blast wounds, while the rest had moderate or light injuries. The Kharkiv Oblast head, Oleh Syniehubov, reported that three children lived in the apartment that was hit.

The attack was followed by a series of drone strikes on central Kyiv and Dnipro during the day, killing civilians in several of those cities. Russia has increasingly relied on jet-powered drones, which fly too fast for Ukraine's cheap interceptors. These drones have reopened gaps in city defenses that Ukraine had just begun to close.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov stated that the city had not experienced an assault of this magnitude in a long time. Officials are still determining the precise weapon used in the Kharkiv strike, with Syniehubov naming guided aerial bombs (KABs) and the preliminary version being the UMPB-5, a Russian munition. Terekhov mentioned a possible Banderol, a small cruise missile. The city is currently investigating which type of weapon was used.

Earlier, in November 2024, a Russian strike on the same high-rise in Kharkiv injured 25 people, including an infant.