Kyiv records 13 air raid alerts in a single day, most since full-scale invasion began, as Russian attacks continue into morning

Editor's note: The story was updated to include the impact of new Russian attacks overnight on Aug. 28.

Kyiv recorded 13 air raid alerts over a 24-hour period on Aug. 27, setting a single-day record for the capital since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, officials reported.

In total, Kyiv spent 872 minutes — nearly 15 hours — under air raid alerts throughout the day on Aug. 27, according to Ukraine's Foreign Ministry. The previous record appeared to be set on March 1, 2022, when Kyiv was placed under air raid alert 12 times in a single day.

The capital saw eight more air raid alerts by the morning of Aug. 28 as Russian forces continued attacking Kyiv and the surrounding areas overnight.

The first alerts on Aug. 28 were issued around midnight, with explosions again heard in Kyiv at around 12:30 a.m. local time, according to Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground.

Amid Russia's barrage of jet-powered drones and ballistic and cruise missiles targeting Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast, at least four people were injured and one person was killed over the past day, regional Governor Tymur Tkachenko said.

The attacks were part of a larger overnight drone assault, with Russia launching 164 drones across Ukraine. Ukrainian forces shot down 137 of them, while another 10 remained in Ukrainian airspace as of 9 a.m. local time, the Air Force said.

Due to prolonged air raid alerts across the country, train schedules were significantly disrupted, with some trains delayed by several hours amid repeated evacuations over drone threats.

Ukrainian Railways, also known as Ukrzaliznytsia, said on Aug. 28 that the disruptions caused by the extended alerts would continue to affect service for at least another day, though no long-distance trains were canceled.

"For regions closer to the front line, even longer alerts are an everyday reality," the Foreign Ministry said in a post on X. "But what Kyiv experienced on Aug. 27 shows another way Russia is using its weapons to disrupt civilian life: repeated drone launches keeping a city of millions under threat throughout the day."

The ministry said sirens sounded throughout the day as Russia launched drones toward Kyiv in small groups, disrupting work, public services, transport, and daily life.

Damage was reported at two schools in the Podilskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts, with a fire also reported near the Valerii Lobanovskyi Stadium in the city center. A drone also fell on a main road in the Holosiivskyi district in the southern part of the city center, and into the evening, a four-story residential building was damaged in the Podilskyi district, the Kyiv City Military Administration said.

Kyiv's defenses have been strained by a shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles, which Ukraine relies on to defend against Russian ballistic attacks.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month that Ukraine had run out of interceptors during one major strike on the capital, repeating calls for faster deliveries from allies.