Key Points and Summary – Russia unleashed a massive mixed strike on Ukraine—595 drones/decoys and 48 missiles—hitting Kyiv and multiple regions, killing at least four, including a 12-year-old.
-NATO placed air defenses on high alert and scrambled fighters over Poland; no airspace breaches were reported.
Ukraine Tanks. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-In Washington, VP JD Vance said the U.S. is considering routing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine via European partners—a marked shift since February.
-Ukraine also released video of a $500 FPV drone destroying a $10 million Russian Mi-8 helicopter.
-Meanwhile, monitors say a new Shahed drone base at Crimea’s Kacha airfield supported the attacks, suggesting rocket-assisted variants were used.
Russia’s Largest Barrage in Weeks Slams Ukraine; NATO Jets Scramble
Russia, overnight, launched what Fox News described as “a massive barrage of drones and missiles” at Ukraine. Four people had been confirmed dead, per the report, including a 12-year-old girl.
The attacks were targeted at the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, although they also struck other regions, including Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Odessa. Per Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia had fired 595 exploding drones and decoys along with 48 missiles.
“The Russians have restarted the child death counter,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration, said in Telegram posts this week.
Ukraine Responds
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy quickly condemned the attack, the largest from Russia in several weeks.
“During these weeks, while the UN General Assembly was taking place, Russia literally used every day, every hour to strike Ukraine. Treacherous strikes. And this is what defines Russia – what they do, not what they say or send out as signals around the world,” Zelenskyy said on X.
Also, once again, a Russian attack has drawn the attention of NATO.
Jets Scrambled, Again
During the latest barrage, per Newsweek, NATO “swiftly scrambled fighter jets and placed air defense units on high alert, particularly in neighboring Poland.” There were no violations reported of Polish airspace, although F-35 jets were reported patrolling the skies.
Those attacks and flights were followed by Vice President JD Vance stating, in a Fox News interview broadcast on Sunday morning, that the U.S. is considering making Tomahawk missiles available to Ukraine, after refusing to do so thus far.
Vance stated in the interview that the decision was not final and would ultimately be made by the president.
“We’re certainly looking at a number of requests from the Europeans. And one of the things, again, that I think has really worked about the president’s policy in Ukraine and Russia is that it’s forced the Europeans to step up in a big way,” the vice president said in the Fox interview. The request from Ukraine had come straight from Zelenskyy, during a meeting with the president on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last week.
It represented a significant shift from February, when Vance had rebuked Zelenskyy in a closely watched Oval Office meeting, in which the president and vice president implied to the Ukrainian leader that the war with Russia could not be won.
MI-8 Down
Meanwhile, per a report by Euromaidan Press that cited Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, video has surfaced of a Ukrainian FPV drone “striking and destroying a Russian Mi-8 helicopter worth $10 million.”
The report added that the drone only cost about $500, compared to the costly piece of Russian military equipment that it destroyed.
It represented the first time a Ukrainian drone had struck down a helicopter since August 2024. The strike took place on the morning of September 29.
“Russian military Telegram channels also confirmed the loss, claiming that the Russian pilots were allegedly evacuated after the crash. It is unclear if the crew and other soldiers in the Mi-8 could have survived the crash,” Euromaidan Press reported.
The Ukrainian unit, per the report, “credited the result to coordinated work between reconnaissance, command, and pilots, as well as support from those backing the unit.”
A New Base
And in other drone news related to the war, the Kyiv Post reported that a new Shahed drone base had been built in occupied Crimea, and that the base was used in the attack this weekend. It’s the 12th known base for the Shahed drones, per the report.
The base is located at Kacha airfield on the Black Sea coast.
“According to monitors, drones from Kacha hit a winery in Odessa region only 40 minutes after launch, even though the distance was nearly 300 kilometers. This suggests Russia may have used rocket-assisted versions of the drones,” the report said.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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