'A clear Russian signal to America' — Russia hits Coca-Cola plant, injures 13 in 8th straight day of attacks on Kyiv

Key developments:

• Russia launched its eighth consecutive attack on Kyiv Sept. 3, striking the city throughout the day and injuring at least 13.
• Among the casualties are a 12-year-old girl and several medical personnel. Six people have been hospitalized.
• A Coca-Cola production site near Brovary was damaged in a drone strike. No employees were harmed. President Zelensky called the strike "a clear Russian signal to America."
• Authorities have reported damage to apartments, stores, vehicles, and other buildings in multiple districts of the city.

Russian attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding oblast on Sept. 3 injured at least 13 people and damaged a Coca-Cola plant during the eighth consecutive day of strikes on the Ukrainian capital, local authorities and officials reported.

Thirteen people, including a 12-year-old girl and several medical personnel, were injured as a result of the attack, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Six people have been hospitalized, including a child.

Coca Cola's production site near Brovary was damaged during a drone strike, Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, told the Kyiv Independent.

"All employees are safe and unharmed. The company is working with the relevant authorities to assess the situation. Ensuring the safety and well-being of people remains top priority," he added.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack on the Coca-Cola facility "a clear Russian signal to America."

"Coca-Cola is already such an enemy to them that they are burning it with their Shaheds," he said in his evening address Sept. 3. "A clear Russian signal to America — the Russians cannot help but know that this is an American enterprise."

Due to Russian strikes on the city, Kyiv's inhabitants had to endure seven air raid alerts since midnight, as well as the periodic sounds of air defenses, jet-powered drones, and explosions which carried on into the evening.

Falling drone debris damaged several cars and injured people in Kyiv's Darnytsia district, the Kyiv City Military Administration reported.

Shortly after 8 p.m. Kyiv time, Klitschko reported a fire had broken out in a high-rise residential building in the Holosiivskyi district and 15 people had been evacuated. Less than an hour later, the mayor reported additional drone damage to non-residential buildings and a park in the Solomianskyi district.

The damage reports continued into the evening, with Klitschko announcing at around 9:30 p.m. local time that drone wreckage crashed near a store in the Darnytskyi district, likely resulting in casualties.

Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground also reported additional loud explosions shortly after 10:30 p.m. local time. A series of loud blasts came in waves less than 20 minutes apart, according to reporters.

The latest attack follows a week of relentless Russian aerial assaults against Kyiv, including daytime strikes, nonstop air raid sirens, ballistic missile attacks, and civilian casualties.

The onslaught prompted President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce a change in Ukraine's aerial alert system. Under the new plan, alerts will be divided into red and yellow levels, with yellow corresponding to drone threats and red signaling incoming missiles and massive combined attacks.

Moscow's assault on Kyiv comes as Ukraine suffers a severe shortage of air defense systems, leaving cities with little protection against ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones. Even as Ukraine expands its own long-range strike capabilities to hit back at Russia, the air defense crisis has made summer 2026 the deadliest time for civilians since the first months of the full-scale invasion.