Russia has hammered Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, with drones in daylight attacks, hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was due to address world leaders at the UN General Assembly.
Two people were killed and 41 were injured in Kyiv as the attack stretched into Wednesday afternoon.
Black smoke floated above the city following the latest in what have been daily Russian attacks that torment Ukrainian civilians.
The drones set off fires and damaged buildings in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine overnight, authorities said.
Mr Zelensky was in New York for the annual gathering as part of his diplomatic effort to shore up and recruit further international support for his country’s gruelling fight against Russia’s invasion.
He was due to address the General Assembly and was also meeting European leaders and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte.
President Trump, our teams, and I spoke about how to end the war. This is the priority. We are ready. I’m not sure Russia is ready as of today, but anyhow, we spoke about an energy ceasefire. We are ready for an energy ceasefire if they do not attack our energy system, our… pic.twitter.com/5JASduEiPp
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 22, 2026
On Tuesday, Mr Zelensky met US President Donald Trump, who has shown impatience with the lack of progress in talks aimed at ending the war and the escalating aerial attacks by both sides this year.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that there are “no concrete plans” for a high-level meeting between US and Russian officials that might help break the deadlock in negotiations. He insisted that Moscow is “open to peace talks”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is accused by Nato officials and European governments of sabotage, espionage and other threats, is not scheduled to attend the UN gathering this year.
The Polish military said a Russian military helicopter briefly violated Poland’s airspace on Wednesday on the country’s border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.
It said that “the nature of the incident suggests that Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defence”.
Ukraine has hit back at Russia by damaging oil refineries that are a vital pillar of the country’s economy.
Mr Zelensky said at the start of his US visit that he had proposals to make about possible de-escalation in the war.
Urgent issues for Kyiv are halting devastating Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid and ensuring Ukrainian grain can be shipped to world markets through the Black Sea despite the war.
Ukraine also needs more US-made Patriot air defence systems as a shield against Russian ballistic missiles, but Patriots are in short supply after the war in Iran began.
In Zaporizhzhia, in south-eastern Ukraine, two men aged 37 and 39 were wounded by a strike that started a large fire at a shopping centre.
The Russian Defence Ministry said that its forces overnight struck Ukraine’s military-industrial and energy sector facilities, logistics centres and sea vessels.
It said that that its air defences intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, as well as illegally annexed Crimea and waters of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
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