Three killed, including a child, in overnight Russian attack on Kyiv and surrounding region
Russians killed at least three people, including a child born in 2022, in overnight ballistic attacks near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, the Ukrainian authorities stated.
In the early hours of 8 August 2026, Russian missiles hit east of the capital just days after strikes across Ukraine killed 21 people.
Head of the regional military administration Timur Tkachenko reported that the ballistic missile strikes killed three and wounded another three, adding that falling debris damaged apartment buildings and cars, while a fire broke out at a separate building.
Fires broke out in a nonresidential area of the Holosiivskyi District, though firefighters have since extinguished the blaze. In the Obolonskyi District, fuel tanks caught fire, according to preliminary reports.
In the Brovary District, in the village of Pukhivka, a two-story private home caught fire as a result of a Russian attack.
The fire destroyed the house, two gazebos and two cars.
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Also in Pukhivka, a warehouse building on the territory of an industrial enterprise caught fire due to the attack.
Ukrainian air defences destroyed or suppressed 135 Russian drones overnight, including Shahed, Gerbera, Italmas and other models, the Air Force reported. Russians shelled six ballistic rockets. Missiles and 13 attack drones struck 12 locations, with falling debris from intercepted targets recorded at seven sites.
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Belgradeі for his first visit. He is due to meet with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to discuss economic ties, security issues and relations with the European Union. He is trying to build broader support for Ukraine, but Vučić has refused to impose sanctions on Russia.
The West is once again letting Ukraine down and giving Vladimir Putin the upper hand – at the most critical moment, Bloomberg columnist Marc Champion wrote.
He noted that battlefield news this year has generally been favourable for Kyiv. Moscow’s offensive has slowed, and its casualties have sharply increased. Equally important are Kyiv’s new long-range strike capabilities. Experts noted that the time had come to renew diplomatic efforts and secure a cease-fire, but this might have been feasible just a few weeks ago. At this stage, any attempt at negotiations seems highly unlikely, as Putin sees serious shifts in his favor.
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Kyiv has depleted its stockpile of Patriot interceptors — the only system available to Ukraine capable of consistently shooting down ballistic missiles — and Putin is exploiting this to intensify strikes on Ukrainian ports and cities.
This situation means being able to destroy Ukraine’s already shrunken capacity for power and heat generation faster than it can be restored this winter. And that, in turn, portends grid blackouts, life-threatening cold in city apartment blocks and potential new waves of mass migration at a time when the issue has become a political third rail in Europe.
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