1 killed, 24 injured in Zaporizhzhia as Russia launches large-scale missile, drone attack on Ukrainian cities
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russia launched a missile and drone attack targeting various Ukrainian regions overnight on Aug. 30, killing at least one person and injuring 24 others, officials reported.
Officials and local media outlets reported explosions in multiple cities across the country, including in Zaporizhzhia, Pavlohrad, Dnipro, Chernihiv, Lutsk, and Cherkasy amid the attack.
Ukraine's Air Force reported that multiple Russian cruise and ballistic missiles had been launched at Ukraine's front-line regions. A Kyiv Independent journalist on the ground reported hearing multiple explosions in Dnipro around 4:15 a.m. local time amid news of the missile attack.
Russia launched 537 Shahed-type attack drones and decoys against Ukraine overnight, as well as eight Iskander-M or North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles and 37 cruise missiles, the Air Force reported.
Ukrainian forces intercepted 510 drones, six ballistic missiles, and 32 cruise missiles, while five missiles and 24 drones struck at seven different locations. Fallen debris was also reported at 21 places.
In Zaporizhzhia, Russian missile and drone strikes damaged 40 homes, 14 apartment buildings, and an unspecified number of industrial facilities, regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said.
Preliminary reports indicate that at least one person was killed and another 24 others, including three children, have been injured in the attack, officials reported.
At least eight people have been hospitalized, including a 10-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, Fedorov added.
Dozens of Russian attack drones have also been reported across multiple regions, including the country's far west.
Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine's state railway operator, reported that the overnight attack damaged railway infrastructure in Kyiv Oblast, causing several hours-long delays in train departures.
A second group of Russian ballistic missiles was launched at Ukraine's eastern cities around 5 a.m.
Air raid warnings had been blaring in nearly all regions of Ukraine throughout most of the night amid the incoming aerial targets.
In response to the attack, Poland scrambled fighter jets to protect the country's own air space around 5 a.m., the country's Air Force said on social media.
"In line with established procedures, the Operational Commander of the Polish Armed Forces has activated all available forces and assets at his disposal," the country's Air Force wrote.
The renewed attack comes just two days after Russia launched a large-scale aerial attack on multiple Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv. The Aug. 28 attack on Ukraine's capital killed 25 civilians and injured 63 people.
As Russia continues to launch attacks at civilian targets in Ukraine, progress on peace talks has increasingly stalled in recent weeks. Despite efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to broker peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, hopes for a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin continue to fade.
On Aug. 24, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow will not accept Zelensky's signature on legal documents establishing terms for an end to Russia's war.
Zelensky said on Aug. 28 that security guarantees will be "set out on paper next week," and indicated that Kyiv's hopes for guarantees revolve around three pillars — maintaining the strength of Ukraine's military, assurances from NATO allies in case of renewed attacks by Moscow, and the use of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction.
Despite talks on security guarantees among Coalition of the Willing members, the Kremlin rejected the idea of European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, saying Moscow has a "negative attitude" to any such deployment.
