Russia’s drones threaten Kyiv-bound Western officials as war effort stalls

Russia strikes Ukraine’s border crossings with Poland and Moldova as its offensives peter out in the east.

A woman and a boy walk near a fence with traces of shrapnel, the site of a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, September 8, 2026 [Reuters]

Russia has threatened the safety of Ukrainian, American and European officials travelling to and from Kyiv using drones.

These attacks have come as Russia’s ground war stumbles.

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Details emerged this week of its latest setback when an attempt to seize the city of Lyman resulted in the loss of 85 square kilometres (33 square miles) of territory Russia had previously occupied in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

A resident salvages food from her destroyed home after a Russian air strike in the front line city of Kramatorsk, Ukraine, September 16, 2026. [Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters]

On September 13, Russian drones struck a Ukrainian train locomotive 5km (3 miles) from the border with Poland, endangering European officials travelling to Warsaw after they attended the Yalta European Strategy conference, an annual gathering of global political, business and civil society leaders in Kyiv.

Boris Johnson, Britain’s former premier, and European political and security officials were on the train.

Ukraine’s railway company, Ukraliznytsia, said the locomotive of the passenger train had been struck.

A Russian drone also struck a petrol station 2km (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, destroying or damaging a number of trucks.

Polish premier Donald Tusk said he expects a period of “very intensified actions by Russia”, possibly including an “escalation will also affect our territory”.

“This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and NATO,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on social media.

In another incident on September 8, a Russian drone entered Moldovan airspace as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plane prepared to depart Chisinau, delaying the flight. Norway’s prime minister said it nearly struck the aircraft, though Moldova has not confirmed the claim.

On September 6, US diplomatic envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff flew to Poland before taking a train to Kyiv after Russian strikes disrupted flights to the Ukrainian capital.

The Ukrainian flag flies on a roof as smoke rises in the capital, Kyiv, after a Russian drone strike, September 8, 2026 [Gleb Garanich/Reuters]

Russian drones and missiles have also struck four Ukrainian border crossings to Moldova in recent weeks.

Kremlin Ambassador-at-large Rodion Miroshnik said the strikes were justified as part of Russia’s effort to stop Western military aid from reaching Kyiv.

Ukraine has turned its ports, border crossings and logistics centres into “military targets”, he wrote on social media, boasting that Kyiv was “reaping the inevitable consequences”.

Five people were killed on Wednesday when a drone struck their intercity minibus near Nikopol in the northern Kharkiv region in what Zelenskyy called “another act of brutality”.

Three more were killed on Saturday.

“Just this week, Russia has launched approximately 2,100 drones at Ukraine,” along with 78 missiles, Zelenskyy said on Sunday.

A woman looks at her apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine September 9, 2026 [Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters]

Hope for more aid came on Thursday, when both houses of the US Congress passed a bill sponsored by Senators Darline Graham and Richard Blumenthal imposing secondary sanctions on countries buying Russian oil and gas.

If implemented, the bill could deprive Russia of export revenues it needs to replenish its budget, one-third of which goes to defence.

Russia has ‘no grand illusions’ on peace

Ukraine has struck 26 Russian refineries this year. In the past week it struck eight, aiming for their desalination and vacuum distillation units that take months to repair.

Numerous reports estimate that Ukraine has deprived Russia of at least 30 percent of its actual refining capacity.

Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina recently said inflation over the summer was “primarily driven by the situation in the fuel market”.

“We continue to assess inflationary risks as predominant and believe they have increased,” she said.

Ukraine has proposed a ceasefire on strikes to energy infrastructure since 2025, but Russia has signalled that it is ready for talks only on its terms. These include surrendering the remaining one-fifth of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region it does not control and a broad demilitarised buffer zone beyond that.

“We have no grand illusions here,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Kushner told the Yalta European Strategy conference this week that an agreement between the US and Russia was largely prepared, claiming Ukraine’s refusal to surrender the remainder of Donetsk was the main obstacle.

Over the past week, Ukrainian drones also set fire to the Tolyattikauchuk synthetic rubber factory in Samara near the border with Kazakhstan. The rubber is used in the production of solid rocket fuel for tactical and ballistic missiles.

Ukraine also struck the Atlant Aero factory in Taganrog, which builds Molnya reconnaissance and attack drones and makes parts for Orion drones. On September 17, Ukraine struck an Antonov-12 and two Antonov-26 military transport aircraft on the tarmac at Rostov air base near the southern Ukrainian border and also destroyed three helicopters.

Russia has been repeatedly frustrated in its efforts to seize the “fortress belt” of cities in Donetsk – Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhivka. Putin’s December 31 deadline for achieving this is his 15th of the war.

Russian forces have tried to outflank the fortress belt from the north by seizing the cities of Lyman and Svyatohirsk to its northeast, said brigadier-general Andriy Biletskyi, commander of the Third Army Corps defending the area.

A separate offensive was from the south, he said.

The southern flanking movement was defeated in August this year, taking back 745 sq km (290 sq miles) of territory around Dobropillya.

Ukraine also pushed back in Lyman and retook 85 sq km (53 square miles) of territory, its Third Army Corps revealed this week.

“The northern pincer has effectively been defeated and destroyed,” Biletskyi said.

“Over the space of several months, Ukraine has executed two quiet yet successful counteroffensive operations in different parts of the country,” noted military strategist Mick Ryan, a former Australian army general. “Ukrainians have been investing in the hard intellectual work of finding new methods of conducting successful offensive action at the tactical and operational levels.”

Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham, right, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visit HM Naval Base in Portsmouth, England, Monday July 27, 2026 [Simon Jones/Pool photo via AP]

Ukraine’s military said Russian losses in 2026 crossed the 300,000 threshold over the past week, with 20,360 casualties for the first half of September, putting Russia on track for over 40,000 casualties for the month – higher than its reported recruitment rate.

Al Jazeera cannot independently verify casualty claims by either side.

Ukraine’s chief of military intelligence said Russian generals have asked Putin for 800,000 troops above normal recruitment levels.

随着俄罗斯在东部的攻势逐渐减弱，俄罗斯袭击了乌克兰与波兰和摩尔多瓦的边境口岸。

2026年9月8日，乌克兰基辅，一名女子和一名男孩走过一处有弹片痕迹的围栏，这里曾是俄罗斯导弹袭击的地点。[路透社]

俄罗斯威胁要使用无人机威胁往返基辅的乌克兰、美国和欧洲官员的安全。

这些袭击发生之际，俄罗斯的地面战争正步履维艰。

为促成泽连斯基和特朗普下周在联合国会晤而正在进行的四项努力之一

列表 2/4：俄罗斯在乌克兰各地发动袭击，至少 19 人受伤

列表 3/4：乌克兰发动无人机袭击，俄罗斯启动选举

列表 4（共 4 条）来自俄罗斯的观点：议会选举中“任何政党都不能反战”

本周，俄罗斯在试图夺取莱曼市时，失去了此前在乌克兰东部顿涅茨克地区占领的 85 平方公里（33 平方英里）领土，这一挫败的细节浮出水面。

2026年9月16日，在乌克兰前线城市克拉马托尔斯克，一名居民在俄罗斯空袭后从被毁的家中抢救食物。[Anatolii Stepanov/路透社]

9 月 13 日，俄罗斯无人机在距离波兰边境 5 公里（3 英里）处击中了一辆乌克兰火车头，危及了参加完在基辅举行的雅尔塔欧洲战略会议（全球政治、商业和民间社会领导人的年度聚会）后前往华沙的欧洲官员。

英国前首相鲍里斯·约翰逊以及欧洲政治和安全官员当时都在火车上。

乌克兰铁路公司（Ukraliznytsia）表示，这列客运列车的机车遭到撞击。

一架俄罗斯无人机还袭击了距离波兰边境 2 公里（1.2 英里）处的一个加油站，摧毁或损坏了多辆卡车。

波兰总理唐纳德·图斯克表示，他预计俄罗斯将采取“非常激烈的行动”，可能包括“局势升级，这将影响到我们的领土”。

乌克兰外交部长安德烈·西比哈在社交媒体上表示：“这是普京的恐怖主义直接‘敲响’了欧盟和北约的大门。”

9月8日，另一起事件中，一架俄罗斯无人机闯入摩尔多瓦领空，当时总统泽连斯基的专机正准备从基希讷乌起飞，导致航班延误。挪威首相称该无人机险些撞上飞机，但摩尔多瓦方面尚未证实这一说法。

9月6日，俄罗斯空袭扰乱了飞往乌克兰首都基辅的航班后，美国外交特使贾里德·库什纳和史蒂夫·威特科夫先飞往波兰，然后乘火车前往基辅。

2026年9月8日，俄罗斯无人机袭击乌克兰首都基辅后，乌克兰国旗在屋顶上飘扬，浓烟滚滚。[格列布·加拉尼奇/路透社]

最近几周，俄罗斯无人机和导弹还袭击了乌克兰通往摩尔多瓦的四个边境口岸。

克里姆林宫无任所大使罗季翁·米罗什尼克表示，此次空袭是正当的，是俄罗斯阻止西方军事援助运抵基辅的行动的一部分。

他在社交媒体上写道，乌克兰已将其港口、边境口岸和物流中心变成了“军事目标”，并吹嘘基辅正在“承受不可避免的后果”。

周三，一架无人机在哈尔科夫州北部尼科波尔附近袭击了一辆城际小巴，造成五人死亡。泽连斯基称之为“又一起暴行”。

周六又有三人遇难。

泽连斯基周日表示，“就在本周，俄罗斯向乌克兰发射了大约2100架无人机”，以及78枚导弹。

2026年9月9日，一名女子在乌克兰基辅望着被俄罗斯无人机袭击的公寓楼。[Valentyn Ogirenko/路透社]

周四，美国国会两院通过了由参议员达琳·格雷厄姆和理查德·布卢门撒尔提出的法案，对购买俄罗斯石油和天然气的国家实施二级制裁，这给人们带来了更多援助的希望。

如果该法案得以实施，可能会使俄罗斯失去补充预算所需的出口收入，而俄罗斯三分之一的预算都用于国防。

俄罗斯对和平“没有丝毫幻想”。

今年以来，乌克兰已袭击了26家俄罗斯炼油厂。仅上周，乌克兰就袭击了其中8家，目标是修复需要数月时间的海水淡化和真空蒸馏装置。

众多报告估计，乌克兰已经使俄罗斯损失了至少 30% 的实际炼油能力。

俄罗斯中央银行行长埃尔维拉·纳比乌琳娜近日表示，夏季的通货膨胀“主要是由燃料市场的情况驱动的”。

“我们仍然认为通胀风险占主导地位，并且认为通胀风险已经加剧，”她说。

乌克兰提议自2025年起停止对能源基础设施的袭击，但俄罗斯已表明，它只愿意接受其提出的条件进行谈判。这些条件包括放弃其尚未控制的乌克兰东部顿涅茨克地区剩余的五分之一领土，以及在其之外设立一个广阔的非军事缓冲区。

俄罗斯外交部长谢尔盖·拉夫罗夫表示：“我们对此没有任何不切实际的幻想。”

库什纳本周在雅尔塔欧洲战略会议上表示，美国和俄罗斯之间的协议已基本准备就绪，并声称乌克兰拒绝交出顿涅茨克的剩余部分是主要障碍。

过去一周，乌克兰无人机还纵火焚烧了位于萨马拉、靠近哈萨克斯坦边境的托利亚蒂考丘克合成橡胶厂。这种橡胶用于生产战术导弹和弹道导弹的固体火箭燃料。

乌克兰还袭击了位于塔甘罗格的亚特兰特航空工厂，该工厂生产“闪电”侦察攻击无人机，并为“猎户座”无人机生产零部件。9月17日，乌克兰袭击了位于乌克兰南部边境附近罗斯托夫空军基地停机坪上的一架安-12和两架安-26军用运输机，并摧毁了三架直升机。

俄罗斯试图夺取顿涅茨克“堡垒带”——斯拉维扬斯克、克拉马托尔斯克和德鲁日夫卡三座城市的行动屡屡受挫。普京设定的12月31日最后期限是他发动战争的第15个期限。

负责保卫该地区的第三军军长安德烈·比列茨基准将表示，俄军试图从北部绕过要塞带，夺取了东北部的莱曼和斯维亚托希尔斯克两座城市。

他说，南方也发动了另一场攻势。

今年 8 月，南部侧翼进攻被击败，多布罗皮利亚周围 745 平方公里（290 平方英里）的领土被夺回。

乌克兰第三军本周透露，乌克兰还在莱曼地区进行了反击，夺回了 85 平方公里（53 平方英里）的领土。

“北方钳形攻势已被彻底击败和摧毁，”比列茨基说。

“几个月来，乌克兰在国内不同地区悄无声息地发动了两次成功的反攻行动，”前澳大利亚陆军将领、军事战略家米克·瑞安指出。“乌克兰人一直在投入大量精力，进行艰苦的智力研究，以寻找在战术和作战层面成功开展进攻行动的新方法。”

英国首相安迪·伯纳姆（右）和乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基于2026年7月27日星期一访问了位于英国朴茨茅斯的皇家海军基地。[西蒙·琼斯/美联社泳池照片]

乌克兰军方表示，俄罗斯在2026年的伤亡人数在过去一周突破了30万人的门槛，9月上半月的伤亡人数为20360人，这意味着俄罗斯当月的伤亡人数将超过4万人——高于其公布的征兵率。

半岛电视台无法独立核实双方提出的伤亡声明。

乌克兰军事情报局长表示，俄罗斯将军们已要求普京在正常征兵水平的基础上增派80万兵力。