Firefighters deal with a blaze set by Russian strikes on Ukraine, September 26, 2026

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Ukraine War, Day 1,675: Russia’s Strikes Close Largest Steelmaker

UPDATE 0739 GMT:

Air defenses downed 147 of 170 attack, 76 of them jet-powered, fired by Russia across Ukraine overnight. Strikes were recorded on 18 locations.

One civilian was murdered and two injured in the Odesa region in southern Ukraine.

A production facility, warehouse premises, and trucks, were damaged in a widespread fire.

Two civilians were murdered and 23 injured, including four children, by Russian glide bombs on Sumy city in northeast Ukraine on Saturday.

Three children — girls aged 14 and 8 and an 11-month-old infant — and two adults were hospitalized.

The strikes damaged dozens of apartment buildings, a house, a cultural institution, two kindergartens, administrative buildings, and more than 20 vehicles.

UPDATE 0739 GMT:

German and Russian Foreign Ministers have met for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Germany’s Johann Wadephul posted after his encounter with Russia’s Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Saturday: “Russia must end its war of aggression against Ukraine and cease its hostile actions against Germany and its allies.”

He said Germany will back diplomacy if Russia “seriously engages in negotiations towards a sustainable peace.”

Wadephul explained that he was approached beforehand by “numerous colleagues from other countries” who “said Russia was ready for dialogue”. He addressed three topics with Lavrov: grain exports from Ukraine and Russia; the explosive-laden drone intercepted by a worker at Leipzig Airport; and Berlin’s support for Kyiv which is “absolutely unwavering”.

The Foreign Minister proposed to Lavrov “to de-escalate, in particular, taking into account the situation in Ukraine. However, this call has not yet found a response.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the two sides discussed bilateral relations and the war on Ukraine, noting curtly, “Wadephul reaffirmed the position of the German government, which he has repeatedly stated publicly.”

Lavrov dismissively said Wadephul had “complained” to him about the discovery of “some downed drone” in Leipzig. “Looking at Berlin’s daily public statements, I haven’t heard anything new,” he said, declaring that he could have just received a phone call from his German counterpart.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has endured a third consecutive night of Russian airstrikes.

At least one civilian was murdered and four injured overnight.

In the Shevchenkivskyi district, a Russian drone struck an uninhabited residential building around 10 p.m., starting a fire which was brought under control. In the Solomianskyi district, a drone fell in an open area, the blast wave breaking the windows and damaging the face of a five-story residential building. A fire also broke out in a warehouse and a car service center after drone strikes.

Early on Sunday morning, a woman and two 16-year-old children were injured in a strike on a non-residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district.

In his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said:

Obviously, the Russians are not preparing to stop their war, at least for now. Putin always finds some lame excuse – not to meet, not to hold a trilateral, not to talk, not to end it, not to stop the killing… It has been the same with him for years – and all our partners feel it. He is looking for excuses to keep waging the war. It always sounds the same – and our recent meeting with the U.S. President showed that.

Zelensky asserted that “America sees the situation the same way”, joining “with Europe, with Canada, with Japan, and with many others around the world” to help Ukraine.

He called for enforcement of the recently-passed US legislation for tougher sanctions and for “other mechanisms of pressure” on Russia.