Morning Brief: Russia Launches Drone Attack on Kyiv, Trump Sending Troops to Portland

· Guy D. McCardle

A smoke plume towers over Kyiv’s skyline after the overnight drone-and-missile barrage, one of the war’s longest air raids. Image Credit: Gleb Garanich / Reuters

Russia Hammers Ukraine With 12-Hour Drone–Missile Barrage; Kyiv Bears the Brunt

Russia unleashed one of the war’s longest and biggest air assaults overnight into Sunday, September 28, firing nearly 600 attack drones alongside close to 50 missiles in a 12-hour onslaught that killed at least four people—including a 12-year-old girl—and injured dozens more. Kyiv took the hardest hit as firefighters battled block-wide blazes and residents huddled in metro stations until dawn.

Ukrainian air defenses had a busy night: the Air Force reported downing the vast majority of incoming drones and missiles, yet sheer volume let dozens slip through, punching into apartments and civic infrastructure across five Kyiv districts. A cardiology clinic, a medical facility, a kindergarten, and residential blocks were among the sites damaged or destroyed. Emergency crews marked more than 15 separate impact zones around the capital as morning smoke plumed over burned-out cars.

This attack was not confined to the capital. Strikes rippled across Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Odesa. Zaporizhzhia officials counted at least 27 wounded—including three children—and reported multi-story apartment damage and fires set off by debris. The scale tracks with Russia’s recent pattern of “saturation” raids designed to stress Ukraine’s interceptors before winter.

The regional picture widened when Poland scrambled fighter jets and temporarily closed airspace near its southeastern cities as Russian drones approached alliance borders. NATO air defenses moved to high alert—a reminder that spillover risk grows when Moscow pushes munitions close to allied territory. Similar scrambles occurred earlier this month when drones breached Polish airspace.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called the strike “savage” and pressed partners to tighten the screws on Russian energy revenues and accelerate deliveries of air defense and counter-drone systems. The ask aligns with Ukraine’s priority list heading into colder months: more interceptors, more launchers, more sensors, and faster repair capacity for power and grid nodes likely to be targeted again. Think of it like trying to catch a swarm of bees with a tennis racket—you can swat many, but if the swarm keeps thickening, you need netting, fences, and a second racket.

By sunrise, rescue teams were still combing rubble in Kyiv’s neighborhoods and the suburbs, where new builds and parked vehicles were cratered or burned out. Casualty numbers could rise. What won’t change is the strategic signal: Russia can mass cheap drones and pair them with missiles to force Ukraine into a nightly endurance test, while NATO states on the frontier keep their jets hot and their radars lit.

 

Trump Says He’ll Send Troops to Portland to Guard ICE. Oregon Says: Don’t.

President Trump says he’s dispatching U.S. troops to Portland, Oregon, to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities from “domestic terrorists,” authorizing “full force, if necessary.” The announcement—made Saturday, September 27—landed like a flashbang in a city that’s seen protest flare-ups but where violent crime is trending down. Portland’s mayor and Oregon’s governor blasted the move as performative and unnecessary.

Trump’s order leaves big questions hanging: Guard or active-duty troops? Under what legal authority? The Pentagon has only said it’s ready to support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and will share details later. Portland’s police chief noted federal reinforcements had already beefed up security at the South Waterfront ICE site. Meanwhile, state leaders are lawyering up; Oregon’s attorney general has prepared court action if federal forces hit the streets.

On paper, using uniformed military for domestic law enforcement runs straight into the Posse Comitatus Act, unless the White House invokes the Insurrection Act or uses other narrow exceptions. That’s why past administrations relied on federal law enforcement—and in 2020, DHS sent mixed-agency teams to Portland under 40 U.S.C. § 1315 to protect federal property, a move later judged lawful but poorly planned by the DHS inspector general. If Trump wants soldiers doing police work, he’ll need a clear legal lane or a governor’s consent for the National Guard in a law-enforcement role. Otherwise, expect a courtroom brawl.

Local officials aren’t buying the “war-ravaged” framing. Mayor Keith Wilson—who took office in January—said the needed number of troops is “zero,” and Gov. Tina Kotek called the city “safe and calm,” urging Trump to stand down. Reuters notes Portland homicides fell sharply in the first half of 2025 versus 2024, undercutting claims that the city is out of control. That doesn’t mean tension is fiction; protests outside ICE have ebbed and flowed, and DHS says officers have faced doxxing and threats. But the step from fortified fences to federal troops is a leap.

The broader context is combustible: a fatal shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas earlier this week and the September 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah have hardened rhetoric on the right and fed Trump’s law-and-order push. Whether that translates into boots on Portland pavement—and whether courts will let them police city streets—remains the live question. Think of this as stacking powder kegs next to a crowd-control line: one bad spark and nobody’s in control of the blast.

 

Lavrov’s UN Warning: “Decisive Response” If Provoked—Backed by Zapad-2025 and Baltic Air Tension

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov used his United Nations pulpit to warn that “any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response,” while insisting Moscow has no plan to attack EU or NATO states. The speech tracks a sharper edge in Moscow’s messaging after a month of brushes with allied airspace and a fresh NATO posture along the eastern flank.

This rhetoric isn’t floating in a vacuum. Russia and Belarus wrapped the Zapad-2025 drills—officially they were “defensive,” but featuring nuclear-use training and new dual-capable missile systems, including the Oreshnik slated for Belarus. That’s muscle-flexing meant to signal capacity for rapid escalation and to rattle European planners gaming out worst-case nights over the Suwałki Corridor.

European capitals are already twitchy. After a string of drone and aircraft incidents touching allied airspace—most dramatically the Sept. 9–10 drone incursion into Poland that triggered Article 4 consultations—NATO launched Operation Eastern Sentry and began surging sensors, jets, and even a Baltic Sea air-defense frigate. Baltic leaders want air policing upgraded to true air defense with tighter rules of engagement. Moscow denies deliberate violations; allies aren’t reassured.

So what’s Lavrov really doing here? Three lines of effort. First, deterrence by headline: tell NATO that added support to Ukraine risks a fast, forceful answer. Second, domestic chest-thumping: project strength at home during a grinding war. Third, narrative warfare: paint Russia as reactive—calm until “provoked,” then willing to hit back hard. Reuters’ readout even notes Moscow’s claim it hasn’t targeted NATO/EU, paired with a warning about “threats” to Russian airspace—lawyerly positioning for future escalations.

Expect more strategic ambiguity. “Decisive response” can mean many tools—military strikes, electronic warfare, energy leverage, cyber, or deniable proxies. The recent drone disruptions that briefly shut Danish airports offer a template for hybrid pressure without a smoking gun. It’s the geopolitical version of tapping your holster during an argument: message received even if no shot is fired.

Bottom line: The UN line from Moscow pairs with real force prep—Zapad-2025, nuclear signaling, and airspace friction—to raise the psychological cost for NATO while trying to chill weapons flows to Kyiv. Allied planners should treat the warning as both political theater and usable intent. Keep the radars lit, harden the grids, and assume the next test will come at 2 a.m. in bad weather.