Drone terror will continue at least until Russia's elections - Budanov

Speaking at the Ukraine Tomorrow international forum, he emphasized that Russian forces cannot demonstrate tangible front-line breakthroughs to their domestic electorate and are compensating by manufacturing an image of triumph through aerial terror.

"Elections are approaching. The Russians need to showcase some striking image of victory because they feel no victories on the battlefield. Hence, terror. They know no other way. This terror will persist at least until the elections," the head of the President’s Office stated.

On Sept. 1, Russian forces targeted Kyiv with strike drones. In the Podilskyi district, a jet-powered drone strike sparked a fire across the 14th and 15th floors of a 16-story apartment building, injuring three residents.

An overnight strike combining ballistic and cruise missiles killed 12 people across Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast, including an Indian national.

On Aug. 31, municipal authorities in Kyiv sounded 11 air raid alerts due to waves of incoming jet-powered Shaheds, leaving eight civilians injured. Russian forces have subjected the capital and surrounding region to near-continuous drone assaults since Aug. 27.

Mass Russian drone and missile blitz

On Sept. 1, Russian forces carried out a targeted ballistic missile strike against a railway depot and other Ukrzaliznytsia rail facilities in Kyiv, killing seven people, six of whom were railway personnel. The attack caused extensive destruction, completely leveling an industrial workshop. An eighth fatality occurred in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district.

Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia launched a salvo of ballistic and cruise missiles alongside nearly 200 strike UAVs. Air defense units intercepted or neutralized 10 ballistic and cruise missiles, two Banderol-type munitions, and 187 drones. Direct hits were recorded across 28 separate locations, with falling debris reported at ten sites; several additional missiles failed to reach their targets.

According to the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, four people were killed and 13 wounded in Boryspil. The barrage damaged a five-story residential building, retail shops, private homes, parked vehicles, an industrial facility, and an automotive repair garage.