A Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv kills two, damages a maternity hospital. The CIA warns Spain, France and Italy against possible Russian drone attacks from the Mediterranean Sea, media report says. Ukraine and Finland sign a drone deal.
Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv kills two, damages maternity hospital
A Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv overnight into Thursday killed two people and injured eight others. The strikes caused destruction in several districts of the capital, damaging a maternity hospital in the Podilskyi district, the city’s authorities said. The patients, babies and medics were in a shelter and were not harmed. One person was killed on a parking lot outside the hospital. The facility’s façade, laundry and boiler rooms were damaged. The strike shattered the hospital’s windows. A nearby clinic was also damaged. A baby boy was born in the hospital amid the attack, the city’s healthcare department said. The strike also damaged warehouses and a depot of the Nova Poshta postal service.
The missiles also targeted Kyiv region that night. Russia also pummeled the area with drones throughout Wednesday and overnight into Thursday, the regional military administration said. Three districts sustained damage.
In the Bucha district, Russia’s aerial attacks damaged five private homes and a car. One person was injured. In the Fastiv district, a vehicle was damaged. A private home was damaged in the Boryspil district.
Ukraine’s Air Force said on Thursday morning that Russia had launched toward Ukraine 282 drones of various types and Banderol/Dan-T drone-missiles and an unspecified number of Iskander-M/S-400/KN-23 ballistic missiles and Zircon hypersonic anti-ship missiles. The unmanned aerial systems included Shahed attack drones and jet-powered ones, and Parodiya decoy drones. They were launched from the Russian regions of Oryol, Millerovo, Shatalovo, Kursk and Primorsko-Akhtarsk as well as from occupied Donetsk and Hvardiyske and Cape Chauda in Crimea. The Zircon missiles were launched from Russia’s Rostov and Oryol regions. Russia launched the Iskander-M/S-400/KN-23 ballistic missiles from the regions of Kursk and Bryansk.
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down or otherwise neutralized four Zircon missiles, three Iskander-M/S-400/KN-23 ballistic missiles, a Banderol/Dan-T drone-missile and 219 drones. Drones and missiles hit target in 13 locations, and debris from missiles and drones fell in 10 other sites.
The main directions of the attack were the regions of Odesa and Kyiv, the Air Force added.
A Russian aerial attack on a farm in the town of Stara Hnylytsya in Kharkiv region on Thursday morning killed six people and injured 12 others, head of the regional military administration, Oleh Synehubov said. Two men and four women were among the victims.
A Russian drone smashed into a multi-story apartment building in the city of Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine overnight on Thursday. There were no casualties, head of the regional military administration, Serhiy Tyurin said.
CIA warns Spain, France and Italy against possible Russian drone attacks from Mediterranean Sea, media report says
The CIA has warned Spain, France and Italy against possible Russian drone attacks from vessels in the Mediterranean Sea next year, Spanish newspaper El Mundo said Wednesday.
The European nations have been aware of this information since shortly after CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow in late August. The newspaper spoke to a source close to the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense that spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Russia plans to use Gerbera-type drones with a range of 600 kilometers in the attacks. They will use sea-launched drones concealed inside a shipping container, it is not difficult at all, the source said.
According to El Mundo, the CIA warned the governments of Spain, France and Italy of the Russian threat. The timing of the warning coincided with the French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call the Defense Council on September 16. He called an emergency meeting with all party leaders and the 2027 presidential candidates two days later. Several defense analysts confirmed to the newspaper the existence of a CIA report, which had circulated among European foreign ministries.
El Mundo suggested the attacks on the three southern countries could be timed to coincide with their upcoming elections in 2027, as Russia seeks to put pressure on European capitals to stop supporting Ukraine.
Russia’s operation with the use of Gerbera drones would not necessarily aim to cause major destruction, El Mundo said. With a payload of four to five kilograms, the drone is more effective for shutting down an airport, triggering a fire, flying over a military facility or demonstrating that the European rear is within Russia’s range.
Ukraine and Finland sign drone deal
Ukraine and Finland signed a drone deal to jointly produce “defense materiel,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in a post to X on Wednesday. He and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed the document on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Finland and Ukraine have signed an Agreement on Enhanced Defense and Security Cooperation under the Drone Deal format. It will enable defense materiel cooperation between the two countries, the Finnish government said on Wednesday.
Zelenskyi suggested the agreement to Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo when the two met in Armenia in early May. Finland and Ukraine negotiated the agreement during the summer and early autumn, the statement reads.
“Ukraine has developed its defence capability and industry in ways we can learn a lot from in Finland. This new agreement both supports Ukraine’s defence and is a concrete step towards preparing Finland’s defence industry and defence forces for a new, more technologically sophisticated era of warfare,” Orpo said, according to his office’s statement.
The agreement aims to deepen defense and security cooperation between the countries and strengthen their defense capabilities, industrial cooperation and technological development.
The deal will also enable Finland and Ukraine to transfer technology and knowledge, pursue research, development and innovation cooperation and promote joint manufacturing and drone technology development between their industries. Another objective is to simplify administrative processes, for example regarding the granting of export authorizations, to make the transfer of defense materiel and technologies between the two countries as efficient as possible, the Finnish government said.
“Ukraine needs all our support in its fight. At the same time, the cooperation is mutually beneficial. By learning from Ukraine’s experience, we are strengthening our own capabilities,” Stubb said.
