Russia has launched an overnight barrage of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, as children prepared their return to school across the country after the summer holiday and some found classes cancelled due to damage from the attack.
Several series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Monday.
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.
Both 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 on Monday that Ukraine’s Kursk assault would not prevent Russian forces advancing in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces had 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 Ukraine’s Kursk offensive would fail and subsequently Kyiv officials would 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 night-time scare.
“I woke up, my neighbour 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, with celebrations including concerts and dances.
Small groups of children and parents gathered outside a damaged Kyiv school as firefighters put out flames and removed rubble.
“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,” he said.
"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."
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 defences intercepted 158 Ukrainian drones during the night from Saturday to Sunday, including two over Moscow and nine over the surrounding region, the defence ministry said.
Elsewhere, 18 people were injured in a Sunday evening strike on a centre 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 centre was partially destroyed and caught fire, and the buildings around it were damaged by the shock wave, 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 UK defence ministry said on Sunday that Russian forces accelerated their advance on they key Donetsk stronghold Povkrosk in the past week and were likely within 10km of the city.
