Kyiv endured another punishing night of Russian air attacks, with authorities reporting 12 people killed and many more injured across the capital and surrounding areas — the sixth straight day of heavy strikes on Ukraine’s largest city.
Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour in 2022, has ramped up air assaults in recent months as its battlefield progress has slowed sharply.
Since last week, Moscow has leaned on a new approach: swarms of drones sent around the clock to harry Kyiv and nearby districts, killing residents and damaging homes and warehouses. Many of the aircraft are new, fast jet-powered drones that are harder to intercept.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the overnight barrage included drones and ballistic missiles aimed at residential neighbourhoods and railway infrastructure.
A rescuer carries part of the wreckage of an alleged Russian drone following a Russian strike in Kyiv
He urged Ukraine’s partners to tighten economic pressure on Russia and revive talks on using frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s war effort.
“It is time to signal (to) the Kremlin that imitating diplomacy does not work anymore,” Mr Sybiha wrote in a post on X. He also pressed allies to supply more air defences as Ukraine runs critically low on US-made Patriot interceptors, which are among the few systems capable of stopping Russia’s ballistic missiles.
Jet-powered drones
Officials said eight people died in Kyiv during the overnight attacks, most of them railway workers. Explosions were again heard this morning, and Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a daytime drone strike injured three more people and sparked a fire at a high-rise apartment building.
In Boryspil, just outside Kyiv, an attack hit a residential building and other sites, killing four people and wounding another 13, Governor Tymur Tkachenko said on Telegram. Among those killed outside the capital was an Indian citizen.
“There’s the crater. My car was parked here, and the blast threw it over there,” Yevhen Zavhorodniy, 44, told Reuters, gesturing toward a large crater outside a building in Boryspil where residents were cleaning up debris.
“But we’re alive and well, thank God. My wife, my son and our dog,” said Mr Zavhorodniy, who recently moved his family from Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine.
Russian strikes also hit a border crossing with NATO-member Romania in the Black Sea region of Odesa, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, leaving thousands of families without electricity.
Throughout the war, Moscow has repeatedly struck Ukrainian cities, usually under cover of night. The newer waves of daytime attacks, however, have further unsettled life in the capital.
Russia launched more than 2,800 jet-powered drones at Ukraine in August, air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said, after their use rose five-fold in July compared with June.
Ukraine’s air force said it managed to shoot down five ballistic missiles. Kyiv has recently received a small batch of Patriot interceptors.
A smoke trail from a projectile is seen during a Russian aerial attack in Kyiv in the early hours of this morning
Ukrainian strikes in Russia
Ukraine, meanwhile, has stepped up its own strikes on Russian territory, hitting oil refineries and logistics infrastructure, including warehouses linked to online shopping companies.
Russian regional governors said air attacks sparked a fire in the port area of Ust-Luga, a major export hub in the north west, and damaged civilian facilities in the Samara region, which is home to multiple oil refineries.
A civilian also died in an attack on Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, the acting governor said.
Estonia’s defence forces said drones used in a Ukrainian strike against Russia briefly entered Estonian airspace. Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said the incident — the latest in a series in recent months — underscored the importance of supporting Ukraine with air defence assets.
Russia’s defence ministry said Moscow struck military and energy facilities in Kyiv and Odesa overnight, as well as surrounding regions.
Peace efforts
US-led peace talks have stalled this year, with Ukraine rejecting Russian demands to cede territory and Washington increasingly preoccupied with the conflict with Iran.
Mr Zelensky said yesterday he held a “detailed and constructive” call with US President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and that both sides were working to finalise dates for a visit to Ukraine.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the war needed to end for humanity’s sake.The Kremlin leader said Moscow was “moving forward along this path”.
