{"id":241538,"date":"2025-09-20T13:36:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T13:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/241538\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T13:36:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T13:36:15","slug":"russia-strikes-across-ukraine-with-missiles-and-drones-kills-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/241538\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia strikes across Ukraine with missiles and drones, kills 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack targeting regions across Ukraine<\/a> early Saturday, killing at least three people and wounding dozens more, Ukrainian officials said.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> said attacks took place across nine regions, including Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy and Kharkiv.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enemy\u2019s target was our infrastructure, residential areas and civilian enterprises,\u201d he said, adding that a missile equipped with cluster munitions struck a multistory building in the city of Dnipro.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach such strike is not a military necessity but a deliberate strategy by Russia<\/a> to intimidate civilians and destroy our infrastructure,\u201d he said in a statement on his official Telegram account.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said he expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next week. He also said the first ladies of Ukraine and the United States would likely hold separate talks focused on humanitarian issues involving children. <\/p>\n

At least 30 people were wounded in the attack in Ukraine\u2019s central Dnipropetrovsk region, local Gov. Serhii Lysak said. Several high-rise buildings and homes were damaged in the eastern city of Dnipro. <\/p>\n

In the Kyiv region, local authorities reported strikes in the areas of Bucha, Boryspil and Obukhiv. A home and cars were damaged. In the western region of Lviv, Gov. Maxim Kozytsky said two cruise missiles were shot down.<\/p>\n

Russia launched 619 drones and missiles, Ukraine\u2019s air force said, of which 552 drones, two ballistic missiles and 29 cruise missiles were shot down or neutralized. <\/p>\n

Russia denies violating Estonia\u2019s airspace<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry denied its aircraft violated Estonia\u2019s airspace, after Tallinn reported three fighter jets crossed into its territory on Friday without permission<\/a> and remained there for 12 minutes. <\/p>\n

The incident, described by Estonia\u2019s top diplomat as an \u201cunprecedentedly brazen\u201d incursion<\/a>, happened just over a week after NATO planes downed Russian drones over Poland<\/a>, heightening fears that Moscow\u2019s war on Ukraine could spill over. <\/p>\n

In a statement early Saturday, Moscow stressed its fighter jets had kept to neutral Baltic Sea waters more than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Estonia\u2019s Vaindloo Island in the Gulf of Finland. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn September 19, three MiG-31 fighter jets completed a scheduled flight from Karelia to an airfield in the Kaliningrad region,\u201d it said, referencing the Russian enclave sandwiched between Polish and Lithuanian territory. Estonia, Poland and Lithuania belong to NATO. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe flight was conducted in strict compliance with international airspace regulations and did not violate the borders of other states, as confirmed through objective monitoring,\u201d the statement said without providing details about the monitoring operation.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Estonian officials said Tallinn had summoned a Russian diplomat to protest, and also moved \u201cto start consultations among the allies\u201d under NATO\u2019s Article 4, which states that parties would confer whenever the territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened.<\/p>\n

Polish and allied aircraft scrambled <\/p>\n

Poland\u2019s Operational Command on Saturday said Polish and allied aircraft were deployed again overnight, due to Russian long-range airstrikes in neighboring Ukraine. In a later post on X, the operational command described the operation as \u201cpreventive,\u201d and \u201caimed at securing the airspace in areas adjacent to the threatened zone.\u201d <\/p>\n

Polish jets have been deployed repeatedly in recent months to patrol the country\u2019s airspace in connection with Russian attacks on Ukraine. <\/p>\n

Last week, fellow NATO member Romania said it deployed two F-16 jets to intercept a drone that briefly entered its airspace.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy hopes to finalize security guarantees in New York meetings <\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine and its partners have laid the groundwork for long-term security guarantees and that he hopes to gauge how close they are to finalizing such commitments during next week\u2019s meetings in New York.<\/p>\n

He said European nations are prepared to move forward with a framework if the United States remains closely engaged. He noted that discussions have taken place at multiple levels, including among military leadership and general staffs from both Europe and the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to receive signals for myself on how close we are to understanding that the security guarantees from all partners will be the kind we need,\u201d Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said sanctions against Russia must remain on the table if peace efforts stall, and that he plans to press the issue in talks with Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the war continues and there is no movement toward peace, we expect sanctions,\u201d he said, adding that Trump is looking for strong steps from Europe.<\/p>\n

Ukraine targets Russia\u2019s oil sector<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Ukrainian drones overnight slammed into an energy facility in Samara, southwestern Russia, according to the local governor and Ukraine\u2019s General Staff. <\/p>\n

Ukraine on Saturday claimed its drones struck the Novokuibyshevsk Refinery, a major producer of jet fuel that is operated by Russian oil major Rosneft. It said the strike resulted in explosions and a fire. <\/p>\n

Samara\u2019s regional governor, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said unspecified fuel and energy facilities were targeted. He later reported that four people had died in the attack, but did not immediately say who they were or describe any damage. <\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s General Staff also said a second Russian oil refinery was hit overnight, in the Saratov region directly south of Samara. A representative of Russia\u2019s aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, said flights were briefly grounded overnight at Saratov and Samara airports, among other regional flight hubs. <\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry on Saturday said its forces intercepted 149 Ukrainian drones during the night. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack targeting regions across Ukraine early Saturday,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":241539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3881,69,5755,56350,57,128997,8132,8959,50,8961,80,257,3658,3657,273,3660,3656,128998,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-241538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-ap-top-news","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-drones","11":"tag-estonia","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-maxim-kozytsky","14":"tag-military-and-defense","15":"tag-nato","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organization","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-russia","20":"tag-russia-government","21":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","22":"tag-ukraine","23":"tag-ukraine-government","24":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","25":"tag-vyacheslav-fedorishchev","26":"tag-world","27":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115236897259963195","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}