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Russia Pounds Kyiv, Other Regions in Mass Drone and Missile Attack
Smoke rises over the city after Russian drone and missile strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine September 28, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine early on Sunday, killing at least four people and injuring dozens, in one of the most sustained attacks on the capital since the full-scale war began.
Neighboring Poland closed its airspace near two southeastern cities and its air force scrambled jets in response until the danger had passed.
Ukraine’s military said that Russia launched 595 drones and 48 missiles overnight and its air defenses shot down 568 drones and 43 missiles. It noted that the main target of the strike was the capital Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack, which lasted more than 12 hours, damaged a cardiology clinic, factories and residential buildings.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday it had carried out a “massive” attack on Ukraine using long-range air and sea-based weapons and drones to target military infrastructure, including airfields.
Moscow has denied targeting civilians in its war against Ukraine, although thousands have been killed and residential areas extensively damaged by its attacks.
ZELENSKY URGES INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS TO ACT
Zelensky again urged the international community to act decisively to cut off Russia’s energy revenues that fund its invasion. Ukraine has so far failed to convince US President Donald Trump to impose punitive sanctions on Moscow.
“The time for decisive action is long overdue, and we count on a strong response from the United States, Europe, the G7, and the G20,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Kyiv awoke to loud explosions, drones flying overhead and air defenses booming. Smoke from one of the strike sites drifted across the morning sky as the air raid alert ended at 09:13 a.m. (0613 GMT), nearly seven hours after it began.
Reuters journalists visited an area in the suburbs of Kyiv, where rows of newly built homes were almost totally destroyed, and parked cars flattened by falling debris.
Residents sifted through the wreckage of an apartment block after their windows were blown in by the force of a blast.
Some people hurried to metro stations underground, from where they followed events on their mobile phones.
UKRAINE’S DEFENCES STRETCHED BY LARGE-SCALE ATTACKS
Attacks on such a scale have stretched Ukraine’s limited air defenses throughout 2025. Zelensky said on Saturday an additional Patriot missile system from Israel had been deployed and he expected two more to arrive this autumn.
He and other officials have asked international partners for more to protect Ukraine’s skies, but air defense systems are limited in availability and other nations are keen to bolster their defenses amid perceived threats from Russia.
Zelensky said Sunday’s attack targeted several regions, including the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, where authorities said at least 16 people were injured.
Emergency services said at least four people were killed, while 67 people were reported wounded across the country by local authorities.
Among the fatalities was a 12-year-old girl, although that has not been officially confirmed, Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram.
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Some 800,000 Palestinians Evacuate from Gaza City as Israeli Defense Minister Says Operation to Ramp Up
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that more than 750,000 Palestinian residents of Gaza City have fled to safe areas as the IDF ramps up its operation against one of the last major Hamas strongholds in the enclave. The military subsequently revised the figure up to 800,000.
Katz said Israel ramped up the attacks, proceeding to what he called the “decisive” phase of its operation.
“Autonomous explosive-laden military vehicles are being deployed in advance of the troops to defuse explosives, and the fire cover to protect the troops from the air and ground is heavy and strong,” he posted to his account on the X platform.
“Gaza City is emptying because its residents realize the military operation is escalating and move south for their own safety,” said Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman.
The Israeli military was in control of over half of Gaza City, sources familiar with the matter told Israeli media on Saturday.
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Trump Says ‘We Will Get It Done’ in the Middle East
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US President Donald Trump expressed optimism on Sunday about reaching a deal to end the war in Gaza, saying there is “a real chance for greatness in the Middle East,” ahead of talks on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump did not provide specific details of a prospective ceasefire-for-hostages agreement in Gaza, but Vice President JD Vance told “Fox News Sunday” that top US officials are immersed in “very complicated” negotiations with Israeli and Arab leaders.
“We have a real chance for Greatness in the Middle East. All are on board for something special, first time ever. We will get it done,” Trump said in a Truth Social post that was issued as he rode in his motorcade to his suburban Virginia golf club.
Trump will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday at the White House with the aim of reaching a framework for a deal, according to administration officials.
Trump said on Friday talks on Gaza with Middle Eastern nations were intense and that Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants were aware of the discussions, which he said would continue as long as required.
Vance described himself as “cautiously hopeful” about reaching a deal.
“I feel more optimistic about where we are right now than where we have been at any point in the last few months, but let’s be realistic, these things can get derailed at the very last minute,” he said.
He said the plan has three main components: Returning all hostages, ending the Hamas threat to Israel, and escalating humanitarian aid in Gaza.
“So I think we’re close to accomplishing all three of those objectives,” Vance said.
When international leaders gathered at the United Nations in New York this week, the US unveiled a 21-point Middle East peace plan to end the nearly two-year-long war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
That plan calls for the return of all hostages, living and dead, no further Israeli attacks on Qatar and a new dialogue between Israel and Palestinians for “peaceful coexistence,” a White House official said.
Israel angered Qataris by launching an airstrike against Hamas targets in their capital Doha on September 9.
A Hamas representative said on Saturday that the group had not seen the US plan.
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Hamas Says It Lost Contact with Two Hostages as Tanks Thrust Deeper into Gaza City
A mobile artillery unit fires towards Gaza near the border, in Israel, September 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Hamas said on Sunday it had lost contact with two Israeli hostages held in Gaza City, and called on Israel to pull troops back and suspend air strikes for 24 hours so fighters could retrieve the captives.
The fate of the two hostages, which has strong domestic resonance in Israel, could cast a shadow over a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump on Monday.
Israel has launched a massive ground assault on Gaza City, flattening whole districts and ordering hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee to tented camps, in what Netanyahu says is a bid to destroy Hamas once and for all in its final bastion.
Nevertheless, the past few days have seen increasing talk of steps towards a diplomatic resolution to the nearly two-year-old war. Trump said on Friday that a deal on Gaza seemed likely.
HAMAS SAYS IT HAS NOT RECEIVED NEW PEACE PROPOSAL
Hamas said earlier on Sunday that it had not yet received a new proposal to end the war. Netanyahu says Hamas must lay down its arms or be defeated. The militant group has so far said it will never give up its weapons as long as Palestinians are struggling for a state.
The Hamas military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, called on the Israeli military to pull troops back from the Sabra and Tel Al-Hawa districts southeast of Gaza City’s center, and suspend flights over the area for 24 hours from 1500 GMT so it could reach the two trapped hostages.
The Israeli military did not directly comment on the request but made clear it had no plans to halt its advances, issuing a statement ordering all residents of parts of Gaza City including the Sabra district to leave. It said it was about to attack Hamas targets and raze buildings in the area.
Gaza residents and medics said Israeli tanks pushed deeper into Sabra, Tel Al-Hawa and nearby Sheikh Radwan and Al-Naser neighbourhoods, closing in on the heart of the city and western areas where hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering.
RESCUERS UNABLE TO REACH TRAPPED RESIDENTS
Local health authorities said they had been unable to respond to dozens of desperate calls from trapped residents.
Gaza’s Civil Emergency Service said late on Saturday that Israel had denied 73 requests, sent via international organizations, to let it rescue injured Palestinians in Gaza City. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
The families of the two hostages identified by Hamas have requested that their names not be published by the media.
Hamas precipitated the war when it attacked Israeli territory in October, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages. Forty-eight hostages are still in Gaza, of whom Netanyahu says 20 are believed still alive.
The Israeli military says that Hamas, which ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, no longer has governing capacity and that its military force has been reduced to a guerrilla movement.
The Israeli military launched its long-threatened ground offensive on Gaza City on September 16 after weeks of intensifying strikes on the urban center.
Over the past 24 hours, the air force had struck 140 military targets across Gaza, including militants and what it described as military infrastructure, the military said.
The World Food Program estimates that between 350,000 and 400,000 Palestinians have fled Gaza City since last month, although hundreds of thousands remain. The Israeli military estimates that around a million Palestinians were in Gaza City in August.