Russian drone strikes overnight into 9 October killed one person in Ivano-Frankivsk. According to the mayor of the western Ukrainian city, Ruslan Martsinkiv, cited by the BBC, the victim was a security guard guarding a building. The building caught fire after the impact, as did dry grass on an open area. The fire service extinguished the flames, Ukraine’s emergency services reported.
In the Kyiv region, three people were injured when Russian drones attacked warehouse buildings in Bucha district overnight into 9 October, according to the emergency services. A woman was still missing, it was said. Rescue workers were searching for her under the rubble; contact with her had been lost. The fire had been contained. Because of the attacks on energy facilities, the energy supplier DTEK said it carried out emergency shutdowns on the right bank of Kyiv and in the Kyiv region.
The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia had launched 136 combat drones at Ukraine overnight into 9 October, including 93 with jet propulsion. By 8 a.m. (local time), air defences had shot down 114 drones according to preliminary figures, including 77 with jet propulsion.
On the morning of 9 October, according to the head of the Zaporizhzhia military administration, Mykhailo Semikin, the Russian army attacked the city of Zaporizhzhia with guided glide bombs. One man was killed and five other people were injured. In Kharkiv, explosions were heard during the night. The previous day, according to mayor Ihor Terekhov, a missile hit the top floor of an apartment block and injured a woman. In the Kharkiv region, according to the head of the military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, 17 settlements were shelled within a day and three people were injured.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, one person was injured, according to the military administration. Russia attacked the region more than 30 times over the previous day with drones and glide bombs. In Nikopol district, the cities of Nikopol and the communities of Marhanets, Chornohryhorivka and Pokrovsk were shelled; a 24-year-old woman was taken to hospital with moderate injuries. In Synelnykove district, the communities of Mykolaivka and Petropavlivka were hit; private houses and cars were damaged. In the Hubynykha community, an administrative building was damaged.
The BBC also reported a Russian attack on the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, in which 33 people were killed and 18 injured. Two scheduled buses with passengers were hit. In attacks on Kyiv on 8 October, eight people were killed and dozens injured. The city was attacked throughout the day; a high-rise building and a shop were hit. The metro was temporarily suspended, and there were problems with water and electricity because an energy facility was hit. In Pryluky in the Chernihiv region, the clearing of rubble after a missile strike on a residential building overnight into 8 October was completed. 22 people died, including five children, and 17 were injured.
Why western Ukraine is not a safe place
The attack on Ivano-Frankivsk fits a pattern: western Ukraine, too, has repeatedly been the target of air strikes since the start of Russia’s war of aggression in 2022. In September, the Augsburger Allgemeine debunked in a fact check the claim that western Ukraine had been free of war for three years. Military expert Colonel Markus Reisner confirmed to dpa that this claim was false. Back in November 2025, Ternopil, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk had been attacked. The UN refugee agency UNHCR told dpa on request that the security situation in Ukraine had recently even deteriorated further; there are no safe areas.
How Russia has changed its attacks
Die Zeit reported in early September that Russia had changed its tactics and was deploying faster drones with jet propulsion. Whereas drone attacks on Kyiv used to be flown almost always at night, they now take place around the clock – which places a heavy burden on people’s daily lives and massively disrupts rail traffic. The Ukrainian air force confirmed this development for the night into 9 October: of 136 drones launched, 93 had jet propulsion.
After an attack in late September with five dead and 14 injured, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the main target had been the energy sector of the capital and the Kyiv region. “Every interceptor missile truly saves lives. And the closer winter gets, the more important this protection becomes,” Zelenskyy said. The attacks of recent days show how difficult this defence remains.
