Ukraine war latest: Russian attacks on Kyiv kill 7, including 14-year-old boy

Key developments on Sept. 25:

• Russian attacks on Kyiv kill 7, including 14-year-old boy, injure 59 as drone strikes continue into daytime
• Trump made 'final decision' on granting Ukraine Patriot licenses, Zelensky says
• Ukraine strikes Russian oil refineries, missile production facilities, General Staff confirms
• Macron cites 'several signs' Russia preparing to mobilize 300,000 people

At least seven people, including two children, were killed and 59 others injured in Russian attacks on Kyiv on Sept. 25 as of 8 p.m. local time, local authorities said.

Russia continued its relentless drone attacks on Kyiv, striking a 16-story residential building in the central Pecherskyi district overnight, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring seven people. The drone hit the building between the 10th and 11th floors, according to the National Police.

Twenty-five people, including two children, were hospitalized, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at around 4 p.m.

Authorities announced the drone threat around 4:50 a.m., shortly after air raid alarms had sounded over a missile threat.

The boy who was killed was an Israeli citizen, while his mother was also injured in the attack, Israel's Foreign Ministry in Ukraine said.

At around 9:30 a.m. local time, Kyiv residents were placed under another air raid alert, followed by an explosion. Klitschko said a Russian drone struck a five-story non-residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district.

By approximately 2:30 p.m., the capital had been placed under an air raid alert for the seventh time since the beginning of the day.

During the daytime attack, a drone hit an office building in the Solomianskyi district, killing four people and injuring seven others, including a child, in the building's parking lot, according to preliminary reports.

A medical facility was also damaged in the Solomianskyi district. Three people, including a child, were hospitalized after being injured nearby, Klitshchko said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his condolences to the families of those killed and injured in the attacks.

According to Zelensky, a warehouse used by McDonald's in the city of Brovary in Kyiv Oblast was also damaged during the attack.

"The Russians are constantly expanding their escalation operation: American and other businesses, data centers, internet providers — for Russia, ordinary life in and of itself is simply a target," Zelensky wrote on X.

Trump made 'final decision' on granting Ukraine Patriot licenses, Zelensky says

U.S. President Donald Trump has approved granting Ukraine licenses to produce Patriot air defense missiles, Zelensky said on Sept. 25.

The announcement comes as Kyiv faces a critical shortage of air defense munitions, particularly of Patriots — the only weapons capable of reliably intercepting Russian ballistic missiles.

The issue of licensing Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles has remained unsettled for months, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying in early September that the move was being negotiated.

Zelensky said U.S. President Donald Trump told him about the "final decision" during their meeting on Sept. 22 on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

"At our meeting, President Trump stressed that he had made his final decision: Ukraine will receive licenses to produce Patriot missiles," Zelensky told reporters.

Zelensky didn't say when Ukraine could begin missile production or what production capacity the agreements would provide.

The White House hasn't commented on the issue.

Since Trump took office again in 2025, the U.S. has ended large-scale defense funding and arms deliveries to Ukraine, leaving Kyiv to rely on support from other partners to obtain key weapons systems.

In July, Trump said he had agreed to grant Ukraine Patriot production licenses, before walking the promise back weeks later.

Patriot interceptors have been even harder to come by as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has diverted supplies to the Middle East.

Ukraine strikes Russian oil refineries, missile production facilities, General Staff confirms

Ukraine struck two Russian oil refineries and three facilities involved in missile production overnight on Sept. 25, Ukraine's General Staff confirmed.

Among the facilities targeted was the Lukoil-Permnefteorgsintez oil refinery in Perm, Russia, located approximately 1,450 kilometers (900 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The refinery processes around 13 million metric tons of crude oil annually and produces fuel and other petroleum products. According to the General Staff, the facility is involved in supplying Russian forces with fuel and lubricants.

The second refinery was targeted in Novoshakhtinsk, Rostov Oblast, approximately 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Ukrainian-controlled territory from which the attack was launched, the General Staff said.

A fire was reported at the facility, which has an annual processing capacity of around 7.5 million metric tons. The refinery is also a major supplier of petroleum products in southern Russia and contributes to supplying the Russian armed forces, according to the statement.

In addition, Ukrainian forces struck 64L6 Gamma-S1 and 39N6 Kasta-2E2 radar stations in the Novoshakhtinsk area.

Ukrainian forces also targeted the Iskra plant in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk, approximately 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the Ukrainian border, the General Staff said.

The facility is part of the Almaz-Antey aerospace and defense concern and is involved in Russia's military-industrial complex. The plant specializes in producing semiconductor devices, electronic equipment, measuring instruments, communications systems and specialized equipment, according to the General Staff.

The plant is also involved in the production of Kh-59M2/M2A guided aerial missiles and the 72V6 Pantsir-S air defense gun-missile system and its variants, the General Staff said.

Macron cites 'several signs' Russia preparing to mobilize 300,000 people

French President Emmanuel Macron said Russia was showing "several signs" of preparing for mobilization following elections, in an interview with TF1 and France 2 on Sept. 24.

"There have indeed been several reports shared by European and American intelligence services, as well as by our Ukrainian friends," Macron said in response to a question about the prospect of a further round of Russian mobilization.

His remarks came after Ukraine's Presidential Office warned in August that Russia could be preparing to call up 600,000 people over 2026 and 2027, amid growing public dissatisfaction with the war and a decline in the number of people willing to enlist voluntarily.

In a statement summarizing a briefing by intelligence officials on Aug. 27, the office said Russia planned to mobilize 300,000 people in 2026 and another 300,000 in 2027.

Macron claimed the Kremlin had been waiting to hold elections before launching another wave of mobilization. "They took place. And now it's clear that Russia will do it. The question is whether it will announce it or do everything without a public announcement", Macron said.

Macron called reports that Russia was preparing to mobilize a further 300,000 soldiers "plausible," claiming there have been "several signs that Russia is organizing for this."

"And indeed, the plausible scenario that is frequently being discussed today is around 300,000 men," Macron said.

"The signal Russia is sending today is that we are prepared to make even greater sacrifices in order to seize the entire Donbas," he said.