KYIV, Ukraine, Sept 28, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Ukraine said Sunday that Russia 
pounded the country with "hundreds" of drones and missiles overnight, killing 
at least four people in the capital alone, as neighbouring Poland scrambled 
jets to secure its airspace.

The attacks came after Russia warned NATO against taking sterner action in 
response to alleged incursions into airspace covered by the military 
alliance.

The barrage also followed the revelation by Ukrainian President Volodymyr 
Zelensky that Kyiv had received a US-made Patriot air defence system from 
Israel for use against Russian assaults.

"Russia launched another massive air attack on Ukrainian cities while people 
were sleeping," Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said on X.

"Again, hundreds of drones and missiles, destroying residential buildings and 
causing civilian casualties," he said.

He posted footage of flames bursting from the windows of a multi-storey 
apartment block, with Sybiga blaming the blaze on the attack.

Timur Tkachenko, head of the military administration in the capital Kyiv, had 
said early reports pointed to "three fatalities", "including a 12-year-old 
girl killed by Russians", before swiftly revising the toll upwards to four 
after what he said was the discovery of a victim's body.

More deaths could be uncovered as rescuers went about their jobs, he warned.

In the wider Kyiv region surrounding the capital, the Russian strikes left at 
least 27 wounded, Mykola Kalachnyk, the military administration's head said 
on Telegram. The governor of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region said 
Russian strikes there had injured at least four people.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, accused Moscow of 
waging a "war against civilians", urging greater action from Kyiv's Western 
allies.

"There will be a response to these actions. But the West's economic blows 
against Russia must also be stronger," Yermak said.

Poland's armed forces said on X that Warsaw had scrambled fighter jets in its 
airspace and put ground-based air defence systems on high alert in response 
to Russia's strikes.

The moves were preventive and aimed at securing Polish airspace and 
protecting citizens, especially in areas close to Ukraine, they said.

- 'They will regret it' -

In recent weeks, several European countries have accused Russia of violating 
their airspace with drones and fighter jets, in what NATO has viewed as a 
test of its resolve.

Russia has denied that it is responsible for the incursions or that it plans 
to attack any NATO nation.

Speaking during an address at the UN General Assembly in New York on 
Saturday, Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "any aggression 
against my country will be met with a decisive response".

Speaking later to reporters, Lavrov said that if any country downs objects 
still within Russian airspace, "they will very much regret it".

After returning from his own trip to New York, where he also addressed the 
UN, Zelensky told reporters that "the Israeli (Patriot) system is operating 
in Ukraine", adding that Kyiv would receive two more this autumn.

While initially neutral in the conflict, Israel's ties with Moscow have 
cooled as Russia has drifted closer to Iran and condemned Israel's war in 
Gaza.

Kyiv and Moscow also said on Saturday that the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia 
nuclear power plant -- Europe's largest -- had been off the grid for four 
days, stoking fears of a potential nuclear incident.