Russian jet-powered drones strike Kyiv fuel stations, killing two

Russian jet-powered drones struck two petrol stations in Kyiv on September 11, killing two people and injuring 12 others, including a child, as Moscow intensified attacks on urban fuel and communications infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital.

Ukrainian officials said one station was hit twice, an attack pattern Kyiv described as a “double tap” intended to endanger emergency personnel arriving after the first explosion. Russia did not immediately respond to that specific allegation and has repeatedly denied deliberately targeting civilians.

The casualty figures were reported by Reuters, citing Ukrainian authorities. A nine-storey residential building also caught fire during the attacks, while infrastructure belonging to Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, was damaged.

The strikes followed an attack a day earlier on an Ukrnafta petrol station in Kyiv that injured four people. Ukrainian authorities said the latest wave was the first concentrated use of jet-powered drones against multiple fuel stations in the capital, although similar systems have appeared in near-daily attacks on Kyiv during the preceding week.

Compared with slower propeller-driven systems such as the Shahed family, higher-speed jet-powered drones leave less time for detection, identification and engagement. Their speed can also complicate interception by mobile gun teams and other short-range defences used against conventional one-way attack drones.

Petrol stations support civilian transport, emergency services and commercial logistics and are dispersed throughout populated areas. Strikes on such sites can cause fires and interrupt local fuel distribution.

President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attacks as part of an increasingly terroristic Russian campaign. Ukrainian officials say roughly 300 petrol stations have been struck across the country in recent months, alongside ports, railways, energy facilities and food-processing sites. Moscow maintains that its operations are directed against military and logistical targets.

Ukraine continued its own long-range drone campaign inside Russia. Russian regional officials reported two deaths in the Tula region and one in Kursk following Ukrainian attacks. Kyiv also said it targeted oil infrastructure in several Russian regions, including facilities in Saratov and Volgograd, as it seeks to reduce the revenues and fuel supply supporting Russia’s war effort.

Both sides are increasing pressure on economic and logistical infrastructure behind the front line. Russia is combining missile attacks with different categories of drones, while Ukraine is directing domestically produced long-range systems against Russian refineries, storage sites and transport infrastructure.

Ukrainian air defences now face multiple categories of attack drones with different speeds and flight profiles. No independently verified data were immediately available on the number of jet-powered systems deployed in the latest attacks or their interception rate.