KYIV, UKRAINE – SEPTEMBER 08: A view at a headquarters of Ukrainian authorities that was hit by a Russian “Iskander-Ok” cruise missile on September 7 throughout an in a single day Russian assault in Kyiv, Ukraine, on September 8, 2025. (Picture by Danylo Antoniuk/Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures)
Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures
Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 1,294.
Russia Hits Authorities Constructing in File Assault on Ukraine
Within the early hours of Sept. 7, Russia executed essentially the most intense aerial assault on Ukraine up to now, discharging a salvo of 810 Shahed drones and decoys together with 13 missiles. Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted 747 drones and 4 cruise missiles, however all 9 ballistic missiles penetrated defenses. The strikes hit a number of main cities throughout Ukraine, killing 4 individuals and injuring some 50 others.
Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, bore the brunt of the in a single day onslaught. Within the authorities quarter, close to the town’s historic middle, a Russian ballistic missile struck the Cupboard of Ministers — the seat of Ukraine’s government authority — for the primary time. Within the aftermath, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko recorded a video message from the constructing’s shattered higher flooring. Showing visibly extra emotional than common, she appealed for larger worldwide assist to guard the individuals of Ukraine.
In the meantime, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed his requires a stronger worldwide response. “The world can drive the Kremlin criminals to cease the killings,” he wrote on X. “All that’s wanted is political will.” He famous that almost half of the fired drones have been decoys designed to deplete Ukraine’s defenses. In parallel, President Zelenskyy revealed that circa 150 of the Russian drones had been taken out by cheap interceptor drones.
Massive-scale strikes have grow to be a typical tactic for Moscow: overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses by launching document numbers of drones directly. Russia had beforehand set a document in early July with 728 projectiles in a single night time. To this point in September, Russian forces carried out two main airstrikes of 500 airborne weapons, with 2,147 drones dispatched in complete.
Along with the large-scale strike on Sept. 7, Russian shelling killed not less than 20 and wounded greater than 50 civilians throughout Ukraine between Sept. 5 and eight. Hardest-hit was the japanese province of Donetsk with 10 civilian deaths and 20 accidents. Officers in northeastern Kharkiv oblast, or area, reported 4 fatalities and 14 wounded; in neighboring, central Dnipropetrovsk oblast, 4 people misplaced their lives, with 10 others injured. Southern Kherson province recorded two fatalities and 6 wounded.
New Threats of Further Sanctions on Russia
In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sept. 7 he is able to enhance sanctions on Moscow, however harassed that Europe should act first. When requested if he would transfer to the “second part of sanctions on Russia,” he responded “sure.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added that the White Home is pushing Europe to behave in unison. “If the U.S. and the EU do that collectively, we’re in a race now between how lengthy the Ukrainian army can maintain up versus how lengthy the Russian economic system can maintain up,” Bessent told NBC on Sept. 7.
In keeping with statements from different senior officers, U.S. Vitality Secretary Chris Wright famous in an interview with the Monetary Instances that the U.S. would solely escalate sanctions if European international locations stopped buying Russian oil and gasoline. He emphasised that Russian fossil gasoline exports are funding President Vladimir Putin’s “struggle machine” and urged Europe to purchase American LNG and different power merchandise as an alternative to satisfy the phrases of the U.S.-EU commerce deal, which requires $750 billion in U.S. power gross sales to Europe by 2028.
Washington’s extra aggressive posture relating to new sanctions on the Kremlin break from the sample of latest weeks: even after negotiations reached a lifeless finish in August, in lots of instances, U.S. officers had been heat in tone towards Russia and President Putin. European officers, in contrast, have persistently emphasised the necessity to ratchet up sanctions stress.
Responding to renewed unfavorable rhetoric from the U.S., the Kremlin insisted on Monday that no sanctions would ever compel Russia to change its course on its struggle in opposition to Ukraine, even because the West signaled further financial restrictions are into account. “No sanctions will have the ability to drive the Russian Federation to vary the constant place that our president has repeatedly spoken about,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned on Sept. 8.
Peskov additionally dismissed Western penalties as “completely ineffective by way of exerting stress on Russia,” whereas emphasizing that Moscow prefers to pursue its aims by way of political and diplomatic channels, a path blocked, in its view, by Europe and Kyiv.
By Danylo Nosov, Karina L. Tahiliani
