
Kyiv endures 5th day of near-constant air raid alerts as Russian jet-powered drones continue to swarm city
Kyiv and the surrounding region remain key targets of the strikes, with eight air raid alerts sounding by 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 31.

Kyiv and the surrounding region remain key targets of the strikes, with eight air raid alerts sounding by 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 31.
The Russian commander is reportedly Maj. Gen. Nikolay Varpakhovich.

From the start of 2026 through the morning of Aug. 27, Russian forces fired at least 1,858 missiles of various types at Ukraine. That figure alone, however, fails to show the whole picture. Over nearly eight months, Russia's missile campaign has changed character. After the large February salvos of cruise missiles, a significant share of which Ukrainian air defenses intercepted, Moscow has increasingly turned to massed attacks involving ballistic and quasi-ballistic weapons, which are considera

Russia attacks the Ukrainian capital for the eighth consecutive day, injures at least six.

The competing accounts emerged a day after a confrontation between SBU officers and members of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) in Kyiv ended in a shootout with three HUR service members injured.

The warning comes amid growing concerns over Moscow's hybrid operations as Germany accused Russia of attempting a drone attack at Leipzig Airport in August.

"This conflict, which is today in its fifth year, will not dissolve because somebody is buying or not buying oil or alumina or minerals or metals," Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said.

The Kyiv Independent's coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, after eight years of aggression against Ukraine that began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and fighting in Donbas. The war has resulted in tens of thousands of military and civilian casualties and displaced millions of Ukrainians. NATO and Western allies have provided military aid to Ukraine while the conflict continues across fronts in Ukraine’s south and east.

"Today we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, everyone who still uses key Russian airports — Russian skies are becoming completely dangerous," Zelensky said.