Russia pounds Kyiv in overnight attack, killing 5, injuring 25, as brief truce ends in missile fire
Smoke rising following a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, early on Sept. 8, 2026. (Eugene Kotenko / AFP via Getty Images)
on GoogleEditor's Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Key developments so far:
- Russia launched a large-scale drone and missile attack at Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight on Sept. 8, killing five people and injuring 28.
- The strike signals a definitive end to the aerial truce the Kremlin declared while Kyiv hosted U.S. officials for peace talks.
- The attack damaged residential buildings, a school, warehouses, and vehicles.
- Civilian infrastructure in Kyiv Oblast was also targeted, and one civilian injured.
- Air raid alerts sounded throughout the morning as Russian jet-powered drones continued to target the capital.
A mass Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv overnight on Sept. 8 killed at least five people, injured 25 others, and sparked a series of huge fires that filled the morning air across the city with smoke.
Residential buildings, a school, and warehouses were damaged in the attack, signaling a violent end to the brief respite for the capital during a diplomatic visit by U.S. envoys over the weekend.
"It's like The Hunger Games, it's just about survival," Dariia Kolisnyk, a resident of a building damaged by a missile in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district, told the Kyiv Independent.
"You just go to bed, wondering whether you'll wake up or not. That's life in Kyiv."
The strike follows Russia and Ukraine's agreement to pause aerial attacks on each other's capitals for three days. While the precise expiration time of the truce was hazy, there is no doubt about its end.
Liudmyla Akhremenko, also a resident in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district, said her home has been damaged for the second time in an attack in the area.
"The blast wave blew out the windows, and stones flew into the house. People’s furniture was damaged," Akhremenko told the Kyiv Independent.
According to Akhremenko, no shelter has yet been built nearby, so she was at home when the attack occurred.
"It was very scary," she said. "I was sleeping and woke up to the explosion. I saw that the windows had opened, the glass had shattered, and the flowers had fallen. Everything jumped up to the ceiling."
Explosions rang out in the capital at around 3:30 a.m. local time, according to Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground. Another loud blast occurred about 10 minutes later.
At around 4:14 a.m. local time, Kyiv Independent journalist Yevgeniya Doluda reported a series of up to six explosions in rapid succession.
"There was a very strong bang," Kolisnyk said. "I opened my eyes and saw the window flying, and big flashes. I ran to the second room, where my child and my husband were sleeping and climbed through the broken door and windows."
"I got the child, thank God, sat him up, everything is fine. My husband was cut a little by the glass. But, thank God, everything is fine," she added.
The blasts followed warnings from Ukraine's Air Force that Russian ballistic missiles and jet-powered strike drones were bound for Kyiv. Monitoring channels reported that at least 12 ballistic missiles have targeted the city in the span of about an hour.
The Air Force later reported that Russian forces launched 32 cruise missiles, 166 Shahed-type drones of which "more than half" were jet-powered, and an unspecified number of ballistic missiles. Two ballistic missiles, 31 cruise missiles, and 142 drones were intercepted, it said.
It added that missile and drone strikes were recorded at 29 locations.
As of 3:20 p.m. local time, three people had been killed and another 25 injured in Russian attacks, the Kyiv City Military Administration reported.
Meanwhile, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that as of 5 p.m. local time, 23 people had been injured, 14 of whom were hospitalized. Three people are in serious condition.
The death toll had also risen from three to five, the mayor added.
"The Russians tried to deliberately cause as much harm to life as possible — ballistics, cruise and anti-ship missiles, jet-powered 'shaheds,'" President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on social media.
Speaking to reporters later in the morning, Zelensky described the interception of almost all Russian cruise missiles as "a good result."
"Is it enough? No. We need (interceptor) missiles," he added. "We need a package of ballistic missiles from the Americans. They heard in detail what we need, when we need it."
"I count on meeting with President Trump to raise this topic. And, God willing, we will get a result."
At least two multistory residential buildings in the capital were damaged by drones, the Kyiv City Military Administration reported. Fires also broke out in warehouses, and garages and vehicles were reported damaged.
Rescuers evacuated two people from a 16-story apartment building that was damaged in the attack, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said. Another 10 people were rescued after being trapped in a five-story building during the strike.
A drone attacked the building of the We-Ukraine TV channel, which is part of Ukraine's national telethon, which has been broadcasting since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. The attack occurred during a live broadcast, injuring at least five people, Zelensky said.
"‘Shaheds’ against the media is a new chapter in Russia's degradation, and there must certainly be a response from Europe and the world to this," Zelensky said.
The TV channel reported its newsroom and offices were struck during the attack.
Yevhen Panchenko, one of the residents in the Solomianskyi district whose homes were damaged, said he was initially in his apartment on the ninth floor during the attack but ran down to the first floor as the explosions intensified.
"I already call this street a 'training ground' because these attacks are not happening for the first time," he said.
"These attacks destroy people’s lives and livelihoods. They have nowhere to live or work. It’s horrible."
The State Emergency Service reported fires and damage in several neighborhoods, including Kyiv's Holosiivskyi, Solomianskyi, Darnytskyi, Podilskyi, and Dniprovskyi districts.
The attack comes after sustained Russian drone attacks against Kyiv that, before the weekend's truce, targeted the capital around-the-clock for nine consecutive days.
In an apparent sign of their resumption, air raid sirens sounded throughout the morning with the Air Force reporting several jet-powered drones in the airspace above Kyiv.
The assault also affected communities in the surrounding region, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv Oblast Administration. Russian forces attacked the area from the evening of Sept. 7 into the morning of Sept. 8, hitting residential areas and civilian infrastructure.
Three people were injured in the region, Tkachenko said. One of those injured was a 2-year-old girl who suffered a shrapnel wound to the eye and was hospitalized, according to Tkachenko.
Two apartment buildings, a house, a warehouse, and a production facility in the town were also damaged in the city of Bila Tserkva. Damage to homes, warehouses, businesses, and vehicles occurred in the Kyiv Oblast districts of Brovary, Boryspil, Fastiv, and Obukhiv, Tkachenko added.
Air raid alarms also sounded overnight in other regions of Ukraine, including Rivne Oblast in the northwest and other areas far from the front lines. The Air Force warned less than an hour earlier that Russia had likely launched cruise missiles from its Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers.
Moscow on Sept. 6 announced a three-day pause on attacks against Kyiv while U.S. Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited the city for peace talks. The Kremlin declared the truce would "begin at midnight today," without specifying if that meant Sept. 5 or 6.
While Witkoff and Kushner's visit passed without an aerial attack against Kyiv, Russia immediately began firing drones at the capital after their departure on Sept. 7.
