KYIV – September 16, 2026 – Russia and Ukraine kept striking energy and industrial targets after U.S. President Donald Trump said the two sides had agreed to stop.
Russia launched about 200 drones at Ukraine overnight into Tuesday, killing at least two people. Ukrainian officials said petrol stations in Kyiv were damaged and that energy and port infrastructure was hit in other regions. Air defences reported shooting down or suppressing 187 of the incoming Shahed-type, Gerbera and decoy drones. Debris fell at additional sites, and some drones were still in Ukrainian airspace at dawn.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is willing to halt strikes on energy infrastructure only with credible guarantees that Russia will do the same. Kyiv reported hitting a Russian oil refinery in Syzran, in the Samara region, and drone-production facilities in Taganrog and Oryol. Trump had said Monday that an energy-strike pause was needed because attacks on fuel infrastructure were driving diesel prices higher.
The Ukrainian military also said its 3rd Army Corps is conducting counter-offensive operations northwest of Lyman under Operation Vivaldi. Commanders described the effort as an attempt to disrupt Russian logistics and block a wider encirclement of Ukraine’s so-called Fortress Belt. Neither side reported major confirmed territorial changes on Monday.
A Russian drone struck a Kyiv–Warsaw passenger train near the Polish border on Sunday. NATO’s secretary-general said the attack would not deter Ukraine’s backers. Zelenskyy has said Russia continues to hit civilian energy systems and regular logistics, and that Ukraine’s replies “are tangible.”
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