KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched an overnight barrage of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, officials said Monday, as children prepared their return to school across the country after the summer vacation and some found classes canceled due to damage from the attack.
Several series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours. Debris from intercepted missiles and drones fell in every district of Kyiv, injuring three people and damaging two kindergartens, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said. City authorities reported multiple fires.
After more than 900 days of war, the two sides show no sign of letting up in the fight or moving closer to the negotiating table. The two sides are pursuing ambitious ground offensives, with the Ukrainians driving into Russia’s Kursk region and the Russian army pushing deeper into the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine that is part of the industrial Donbas region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Ukraine’s Kursk assault will not prevent Russian forces from advancing in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have not achieved their goal of diverting Russian troops from the fighting there, he said.
“The main task that the enemy set for themselves - to stop our offensive in Donbas - they haven’t achieved it,” Putin told school students during a trip to southern Siberia.
Putin predicted that Ukraine’s Kursk offensive will fail and that subsequently Kyiv officials will want “to move to peace talks.”
Russia launched 35 missiles of various types and 26 Shahed drones at Ukraine on the night from Sunday to Monday, the Ukrainian air force said. Nine ballistic missiles, 13 cruise missiles and 20 drones were downed, it said.
Residents of the capital hurried into the city’s bomb shelters.
Oksana Argunova, an 18-year-old student at a Kyiv high school, said she was still shaking after the nighttime scare.
“I woke up, my neighbor was shouting: ‘Let’s go down (to the shelter), there are big explosions.’ We all ran,” Argunova told The Associated Press.
The first day of school in Ukraine involves ceremonies and rituals. Students of all ages and often teachers or parents wear traditional costumes. Celebrations include concerts and dances.
Small groups of children and parents gathered outside a damaged Kyiv school as firefighters put out flames and removed rubble.
One 39-year-old mother turned up at the school with her 7-year-old daughter, Sophia, unaware it had been hit. It was Sophia’s first day at what for her was a new school, her mother said, after a frightening night.
“Of course, the child was scared. We hid in the bathroom, where it was relatively safe,” said the mother, who provided only her first name, Olena.
“Today is one of the most important days of the year for millions of our Ukrainian children, families and teachers,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel.
“Ukraine is doing everything to give children as many opportunities as possible. And all our schools, all higher education institutions that are working today are proof of the resilience of our people and the strength of Ukraine,” he said.
Both sides are battering each other with regular long-range drone and missile strikes, sometimes launching more than 100 weapons in aerial attacks that suggest they are still pouring resources into weapon production.
Russian air defenses intercepted 158 Ukrainian drones during the night from Saturday to Sunday, including two over Moscow and nine over the surrounding region, the Defense Ministry said.
Elsewhere, 18 people were injured in a Sunday evening strike on a center for social and psychological rehabilitation of children and an orphanage in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy, regional authorities said.
The regional prosecutor’s office said there were no children in the facility when the strike hit, but people in surrounding residential buildings suffered injuries, including six children.
The educational center was partially destroyed and caught fire, and the buildings around it were damaged by the shockwave, State Emergency Services said.
An explosion also rang out in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, according to Ukrainian media. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region, confirmed an early morning strike on Kharkiv’s Industrialnyi district and said it set a residential building and several others on fire.
The U.K. Defense Ministry said Sunday that Russian forces accelerated their advance on they key Donetsk stronghold Povkrosk over the past week and are likely within 10 kilometers (6 miles) of the city.
Elsewhere along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line there have been no significant changes, it said.
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