Russia and Ukraine trade drone and missile strikes as Kyiv reports $10B in infrastructure damage

Russian bombardment across Ukrainian regions

Russian air attacks killed nine civilians and wounded dozens across Ukraine on 12 September, followed by further drone strikes on Odesa and western Ukraine on 13 September. In Kramatorsk, strikes hit civilian vehicles in three incidents across a 90-minute span, killing three people and injuring four. A strike on a grocery store in Zviahel, located in the Zhytomyr region, killed two people, while attacks in Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih killed two people in each city. In Kryvyi Rih, a missile struck facilities at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, killing two workers. Across the Odesa region, overnight drone strikes wounded 37 people, including an infant, and damaged residential districts and port facilities. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russian forces deployed nearly 500 drones against Ukrainian targets on Saturday alone.

Kramatorsk3

Zviahel2

Zaporizhzhia2

Kryvyi Rih2

Kramatorsk

3

Zviahel

2

Zaporizhzhia

2

Kryvyi Rih

2

Data from the article text

Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian industrial sites

Ukraine responded with long-range drone strikes deep inside Russian territory, hitting oil refining and industrial plants. On 13 September, Ukrainian drones struck Nizhnekamsk in Tatarstan, killing two civilians and injuring 12 after a drone hit near a parked car. Nizhnekamsk houses large petrochemical, synthetic rubber, and oil refining facilities. In the Krasnodar region, Ukrainian defense intelligence drones attacked an oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban, damaging an oil processing unit, a tank farm, and an oil pipeline while injuring three people. Further strikes targeted the Togliattikauchuk synthetic rubber plant in the Samara region, approximately 700 kilometers from Ukraine's border. The Russian Defense Ministry reported shooting down 389 Ukrainian drones overnight across several Russian regions, Tatarstan, and Russian-occupied Crimea.

Infrastructure damage and mounting fiscal pressure

At the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials detailed the financial impact of sustained air attacks on energy and export infrastructure. Economy Minister Oleksandr Kravchenko estimated direct damage to infrastructure and fixed assets at close to $10 billion this year, noting that air strikes and the blockade of seaports will reduce gross domestic product by approximately 1.5 percentage points. Russian forces attacked multiple metallurgical sites, including Zaporizhstal in Zaporizhzhia and Interpipe Steel in Dnipro, alongside strikes on cargo ships in the Black Sea ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk. Kravchenko warned that approximately $40 billion in export revenues, primarily from agriculture and steel, are at risk due to port disruptions.

“We anticipate a very difficult winter in terms of both critical infrastructure, which is being destroyed every day by Russian attacks, but also in terms of overall economic conditions in the country.”

Budget deficits and truce proposals

The economic strain has widened Ukraine's domestic budget deficit as defence expenditures outpace local tax receipts and borrowing. Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the parliamentary budget committee, stated that domestic revenues underperformed by $1.35 billion over the first eight months of the year, with a quarter of that deficit occurring in August. Ukraine spent approximately $42 billion on defence in that period, while domestic revenue and borrowing yielded $39 billion.

Defence spending42

Domestic revenue and borrowing39

Defence spending

42 $B

Domestic revenue and borrowing

39 $B

Data from the article text

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged international pressure on Russia to end attacks on energy grids and allow Black Sea commercial shipping to resume safely.

“At the very least, again, if peace is impossible from today... we can at least resolve the issue of an energy truce, a food truce, food security; such decisions can be made”