Russia launches drone attack on Kyiv, killing at least 1, injuring 12

Russian forces attacked Kyiv on the morning of Sept. 15, killing one person and injuring at least 12 others, local authorities said.

Kyiv City Military Administration reported at 8:39 a.m. local time that a Russian drone had crashed at a petrol station in the Holosiivskyi district of the capital.

Another gas station in Kyiv's Darnytskyi district was hit at around 6 a.m. local time, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. One person was hospitalized in critical condition and later died in hospital, according to the mayor.

As of 10 a.m. local time, seven people had been injured in the morning attacks on Kyiv, while two of those wounded were hospitalized in serious condition, Klitschko said.

As of 5 p.m. local time, six of the injured remain hospitalized, Klitschko said.

Six of the injured were in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district, where a non-residential building was damaged in the early hours of Sept. 15, Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported.

Russia's attack also damaged the data center of BeMobile, according to Ukraine's National Paralympic Committee, whose website was temporarily unavailable following the morning strike.

The committee said emergency restoration work was underway and that it was awaiting the resumption of services by its partner company, UCloud.

The Kyiv Independent contacted UCloud, which confirmed that its Kyiv data center had been affected by the Russian attack.

The company did not specify the nature or extent of the damage, but said the affected websites were expected to resume operation within "several hours."

According to preliminary reports, there were also strikes on warehouses in the city's Obolonskyi district, Klitschko said.

At around 3 p.m., Kyiv came under its fourth air raid alert of the day as Russia launched a drone attack on the capital. The Kyiv City State Administration said air defenses were operating over the city.

Drone debris was reported in at least three districts of Kyiv. In the Solomianskyi district, debris fell onto the roof and into the courtyard of a residential building. In the Holosiivskyi district, debris also fell in the courtyard of a residential building.

Local authorities had not immediately reported any information on casualties from the daytime attack.

Klitschko said on Sept. 11 that the city authorities do not have the resources to build shelters at every gas station, while Kyiv faces a shortage of weapons needed to intercept Russian drones and missiles.

According to the mayor, protecting gas stations from Russian attacks is a "complicated issue."

"The issue of protection is a question of air defense. Speaking with the military, I can say that, unfortunately, we have a shortage of means of destruction — those missiles that work against drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. There is a problem with this," Klitschko told reporters on the sidelines of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) conference.

While strikes on petrol stations in Kyiv are a recent development, Russian forces have regularly targeted petrol stations in other regions of Ukraine.

The Sept. 10 attack marked the first time Russian troops targeted a gas station in Kyiv. The expanding campaign is disrupting fuel distribution, potentially affecting both civilians and military personnel who rely on passenger vehicles.