Kyiv suffers sleepless night as Russia hits capital with record drone attack
Outside, the relentless mechanical buzzing of Iranian Shahed drones quickly saturated both the air and the ears. Just one day after US President Donald Trump announced that the US would suspend deliveries of Patriot anti-missile systems, the Ukrainian capital endured yet another massive assault of drones and missiles launched from Russia on Thursday night.
At the Polytechnic Institute station, on the red line, there was no space left on the ground by 12:30 am. Women settled even on the steps of the stalled escalator, unpacking their bags. Water bottles, hamster cages, cat carriers, earbuds, headphones for music: Everyone in Kyiv has now gotten into the habit of preparing their belongings in anticipation of difficult nights.
'Air filled with toxic fumes'
"I was playing tennis when I heard the first drone, around 8 pm," said Valentina, 27, lying on a yoga mat next to her roommate and her Jack Russell terrier. "Everything was ready." In her special metro kit – she was spending her 10 th night there since early June – she packed her ID, her carefully charged MacBook (she works freelance in IT) and, of course, her phone, an indispensable tool to follow the progress of the attacks in real time on Telegram channels like Aeris Rimor or Real Kyiv, and to read the reactions of Ukrainians, who are never slow to post a caustic comment on social media.
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