President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russian forces deliberately targeted airports in Kyiv and Boryspil overnight in a “demonstrative” response to the upcoming diplomatic visit of US envoys to Ukraine.
In a statement published on Facebook on Saturday, Sept. 5, Zelensky claimed the drone strikes were the first to directly target the airfields in a long time. He linked the attacks to ongoing discussions and logistical preparations regarding the American delegation’s potential use of the airports to land in the capital.
Zelensky described the deployment of “Shahed” drones as a direct reaction to US diplomacy. He stated that Ukraine recorded the escalation and would adjust its military operations regarding Russian airspace next week, while emphasizing that Kyiv poses no threat to diplomatic efforts.
The president also summarized the broader scale of the overnight attacks, confirming that a Russian strike on an industrial enterprise in Kamianske, Dnipropetrovsk region, killed five people and injured five. others He added that drones targeted shopping centers in Sumy and Mykolaiv, while residential buildings sustained damage in Kherson, Boryspil, and the Kharkiv region.
Civilian casualties mount in southern regions
The airport attacks occurred alongside a series of strikes targeting civilian infrastructure across southern and central Ukraine on Friday and Saturday.
In the Kherson region, Russian drone operators injured six civilians on Saturday morning. The Kherson City Military Administration reported that strikes in the Korabelnyi district injured two men, aged 62 and 77, while another 59-year-old man was hospitalized with explosive trauma from a separate attack. In the village of Molodizhne, drone strikes injured three women, including a 56-year-old nurse traveling to work.
In Mykolaiv, consecutive jet-powered drone strikes hit an Epicenter shopping center late Friday and early Saturday, injuring a 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl.
These strikes follow Friday attacks that damaged a nine-story residential building in the city of Boryspil in the Kyiv region, where regional authorities reported fires breaking out on the roof and upper floors.