Ukraine endured intense attacks from Russia throughout the night of 19/9. President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Russia launched 40 missiles, both cruise and ballistic, and approximately 580 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). "We have recorded dozens of injuries from the attacks, and unfortunately, three people have died," he said.

The overnight attack was carried out in two waves, forcing Ukraine to maintain air raid alerts for about 11 hours. The Ukrainian air force claimed to have shot down 552 UAVs and 31 missiles.

President Zelensky reported that the missile that got through carried a cluster munition warhead and hit an apartment building in the eastern city of Dnipro.

Firefighters at the apartment building hit by a missile during the Russian attack on Dnipro, Ukraine on the night of 19/9. Photo: Reuters

Firefighters at the apartment building hit by a missile during the Russian attack on Dnipro, Ukraine on the night of 19/9. Photo: Reuters

Sergiy Lysak, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said the attacks resulted in one death and 26 injuries in the area, one of them serious.

In northern Ukraine, a 62-year-old man was also killed in a Russian UAV attack in the Chernigiv region, according to Vyacheslav Chaus, a regional official. Ukrainian authorities issued nationwide air raid warnings and reported other attacks around the capital, Kyiv.

Around 20 residential buildings were damaged in the Khmelnytskyi region, local official Sergiy Tyurin announced on Telegram, adding that authorities found a body "during the extinguishing of fires."

Damaged vehicles at a parking lot on the outskirts of Kyiv after the Russian attack on Ukraine on the night of 19/9. Photo: Reuters

Damaged vehicles at a parking lot on the outskirts of Kyiv after the Russian attack on Ukraine on the night of 19/9. Photo: Reuters

Russian officials, meanwhile, said their forces repelled "massive attacks" by Ukrainian UAVs in the Volgograd and Rostov regions. The Russian Defense Ministry announced on 20/9 that its air defense systems had "intercepted and destroyed" 149 Ukrainian UAVs overnight.

In recent months, the Russian military has intensified its offensive in eastern Ukraine, aiming to seize control of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Hopes for a ceasefire are fading as both sides escalate long-range attacks against each other.

Vu Hoang (According to AFP, Reuters)