Kyiv woke to the whine of drones and the thud of explosions as Russia launched a barrage that struck rail facilities, warehouses and fuel stations—hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky sat down with US President Donald Trump to press for progress on peace.
City authorities said at least two people were killed and 22 were injured in the morning attack. The strike was described as among the heaviest since Russia began hammering Kyiv and surrounding areas over the summer with faster, high-flying jet drones that are more difficult to intercept.
Explosions echoed across the capital as smoke rose above the city centre.
“This is the view from the windows of the EU Delegation today. Buildings nearby are burning,” Katarina Mathernova, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, said in a social media post.
Just entered my office and heard a very loud bang. A jet powered drone hit an object just behind a building seen from my office windrow.
This follows on earlier hits this morning, also close to Delegation.
Also two gasoline station were hit in Kyiv city.
This russian… pic.twitter.com/bfwBI7Erjt
— Katarina Mathernova (@kmathernova) September 23, 2026
Mr Zelensky, in New York for the UN General Assembly, met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the gathering yesterday to discuss options for addressing Ukraine’s widening budget deficit—pressure he attributed to rising military spending driven by Russia’s intensifying airstrikes.
During his talks with Mr Trump, Mr Zelensky raised the idea of a potential bilateral ceasefire limited to energy-related targets and urged Washington to increase supplies of US Patriot air defence missiles. He said Ukraine was preparing for what it expects to be a Russian winter campaign against the country’s electricity infrastructure.
No agreements were reached, he said.
Mr Zelensky said he was ready for “any format” of an energy ceasefire with Moscow, provided Russia stopped its own attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure.
The Kremlin said today that the grounds for future peace talks with Ukraine were still not in place and there were no plans for any high-level meetings.
Volodymyr Zelensky discussed a potential bilateral ceasefire on energy-related targets with Donald Trump
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a drone hit a nine-storey non-residential building, as well as a business centre and warehouses.
Ukrainian oil company Ukrnafta said Russia hit one of its petrol stations in the capital, the sixth such facility attacked in recent weeks.
Authorities said two petrol stations were hit in total. Reuters TV footage showed one of the stations heavily damaged beside a busy motorway.
Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, chief executive of the Ukrainian railway operator, said railway infrastructure in Kyiv came under attack and that one employee was injured.
Meanwhile, the US State Department said yesterday that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Poland and Belarus hold rare meeting
On the same UN stage, the top diplomats of EU member Poland and Russian-allied Belarus held talks in what Warsaw described as the first high-level meeting between the neighbours in a decade—an encounter Poland said today could open the door to improved relations.
Relations between Minsk and Warsaw have been largely frozen for years, strained by political repression in Belarus, a migrant crisis on the border and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tensions have remained high for years between NATO member Poland and Belarus, led by President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Warsaw’s TVP TV station that he met Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov on what he called the UN’s “neutral territory”.
“We have, more than in the past, a normalised situation on the border,” he said.
“We also have the liberations of prisoners, including Andrzej Poczobot,” Mr Sikorski added, referring to a Polish-Belarusian journalist freed by Minsk this year.
“So the neighbours have more reasons to try to stabilise their relations.”
“This is the first, introductory meeting, but meetings are also taking place at other levels.
“We will soon be opening a new embassy building in Minsk. When a neighbour wishes to thaw and improve relations, Poland is always first to agree.”
Quoted by state news agency Belta, Minsk’s foreign ministry said the meeting “focused on assessing the state of Belarusian-Polish ties and paths for their further development in the interests of the peoples of both countries”.
Belarus suppressed mass anti-Lukashenko protests in 2020, with hundreds still in prison and thousands driven into exile, mostly to Poland.
In 2022, Minsk allowed Moscow to use its territory to invade Ukraine.
