Russian Strikes Kill 8 in Ukraine as UN Debates How to End the War

OVERNIGHT ATTACKS ACROSS THREE REGIONS

Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine overnight killed at least eight civilians, officials said Thursday, as Moscow's four-and-a-half-year invasion of its neighbor grinds on despite renewed appeals for a settlement at this week's UN General Assembly. A strike on Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region killed six agricultural workers and wounded 12 others, Interior Minister Ihor Vyhivskyi said. An attack on the capital Kyiv killed a man and a woman, he said, while officials in the southern port of Odesa also reported a major bombardment. The attack on Kyiv damaged more than 50 civilian sites, including apartment blocks, post offices, a maternity hospital and a textile plant, according to Vyhivskyi.

Valentyna Kolosenko, a 49-year-old Kyiv resident, said a solid oak door she was standing behind saved her when three blasts occurred near her home. "Everything is paralyzed. Nothing works," she told the AP. "Getting to work is incredibly difficult and frightening." Liubov Paziuk, a 74-year-old pensioner whose house windows were shattered, said she remained determined to stay. "We don't get used to it, we adapt, because we have only one choice: to stay here, on our land, despite everything."

ZELENSKYY PRESSES THE UN FOR SANCTIONS

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed in a speech at the United Nations late Wednesday for countries to starve Russia of revenue through sanctions and trade bans. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated Moscow's demand for a comprehensive peace deal rather than a temporary truce, following Ukraine's call for a complete and unconditional ceasefire. "We believe it's necessary to seek peace, not a temporary truce," Peskov told reporters Thursday, while Russia's demands that Ukraine surrender territory remain unacceptable to Kyiv.

The UN said last week that more Ukrainian civilians were killed and wounded in the first eight months of 2026 than in all of last year, with Russian attacks in August alone killing at least 368 civilians and wounding 2,314 others, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. "Russia's escalation of terror demonstrates that active diplomacy must come hand in hand with devastating pressure on Putin's regime and unwavering support for the defense of Ukraine," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.

STRIKES REACH INTO RUSSIA, DRONES CROSS INTO NATO AIRSPACE

Officials in western Russia reported Ukrainian long-range strikes Thursday. Ukrainian drone fragments damaged an administrative building at an oil refinery in Russia's Rostov region without causing fire, Gov. Yuri Slyusar said, while drone fragments sparked a brief fire at an industrial facility in the Krasnodar region.

The fighting also spilled beyond Ukraine's borders. Romania's Ministry of National Defense said a drone violated its airspace for four minutes before crashing near a town close to the Ukrainian border, prompting Romania to scramble two F-16s and Spain to scramble two F-18s to monitor the airspace; authorities did not specify who the drone belonged to. Moldova's defense ministry separately reported a spate of airspace incursions during Russia's overnight attacks, closing part of its northern airspace as a result.

WHY IT MATTERS

With winter approaching, Zelenskyy warned the season ahead "could be very harsh" for Ukraine but vowed to respond in kind against Russia. The overnight toll, combined with drone incursions reaching NATO members Romania and Moldova, underscores how the war continues to widen in its fifth year even as diplomats at the UN search for an opening toward peace.