With Sirens Screeching and Explosions in the Sky, Kyiv Struggles to Sleep
The screech of air-raid sirens, the buzzing of drones, first approaching, then fading. The rattle of machine guns and the roar of air defense missiles being launched. Explosions in the sky.
These are the sounds of Kyiv, night after night.
Russia has kept up a steady barrage of Ukrainian cities, intensifying by the night, in recent months despite pressure from the Trump administration to work toward a cease-fire. A record number of drones and missiles have been launched, according to Ukrainian officials.
The attacks have been terrifying for residents of cities like Kyiv, the capital, making a good night's sleep impossible. When the sun rises, people get up and try to shake off the stiffness in their backs from sleeping in uncomfortable positions — in corridors, bathrooms or subway stations — and fight through the fog of a sleepless night to carry on with their lives.
'All night in a shelter, the children trembled and cried,' Larysa Bilozir, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, wrote on Facebook. 'But we, the people of Kyiv — and I — are heading to work!' She added that as she wrote, her son was already at nursery school and she had arrived at Parliament to meet with visiting delegates from the Council of Europe. 'I wonder how they survived this night in Kyiv,' she wrote.
Russia attacked Ukraine on Tuesday with 315 drones and seven missiles, according to Ukrainian officials, a day after another huge assault. On other nights, Russia fires more drones at different cities as part of its intensified campaign of air attacks.
In Kyiv, residents described Tuesday as one of the loudest nights in the monthslong air campaign by Russia. Fires and damaged buildings were reported in seven of the capital's 10 districts. In the morning, black smoke floated over the city and ambulance sirens could be heard in the streets. In the southern city of Odesa, two people were killed and nine others injured, local officials said.
The overnight barrages came a day after Russia launched almost 500 drones and missiles at Ukraine in what Ukrainian officials said was the largest such assault since the Russian invasion in early 2022. The attacks have escalated since Ukraine mounted a wave of drone strikes on strategic bombers at air bases inside Russia on June 1.
The intensifying aerial assaults by Russia appear to be part of a broader campaign by Moscow to overwhelm and deplete Ukrainian air defenses as it mounts a new offensive on the ground in eastern Ukraine.
The campaigns by Russia and Ukraine have come despite efforts by the Trump administration to push both sides toward a cease-fire. But talks have faltered. The latest round, this month in Istanbul, yielded little result apart from another agreement to swap prisoners.
Nataliia Novosolova contributed reporting.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
17 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Tusk faces confidence vote in hopes of 'new opening' after stinging political setback
WARSAW, Poland — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will face a vote of confidence in parliament on Wednesday in an attempt to regain momentum after his camp's stinging loss in the presidential runoff. The vote, which Tusk requested , follows the narrow June 1 defeat of Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski to Karol Nawrocki , a right-wing nationalist backed by President Donald Trump.
New York Times
27 minutes ago
- New York Times
Pep Guardiola offers a timely lesson in how football managers can tackle big issues
Maybe the easiest way to understand why Pep Guardiola using the University of Manchester as a stage to highlight the humanitarian disaster in Gaza felt so unusual is to check out the website of the football club that employs him. Manchester City covered Monday night's event where Guardiola was awarded with an honorary degree, dressed in a cap and gown, but there was no mention of Gaza in the story published on the club's online media channels. Instead, the club's article focused on Guardiola expressing his love of a city which he has called home for nine years. Advertisement Now, to be clear, this is not a criticism of City. When religion, politics, conflict and death converge, clubs — whatever their standing in the game — almost invariably want to appear neutral. Generally, they know that if they engage with something even vaguely topical, it risks upsetting someone, somewhere, a point which presents myriad risks. When, for example, Liverpool's former manager Jurgen Klopp told The Guardian in 2018 that Britain's exit from the European Union 'made no sense' and called out the politics of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, his quotes did not appear on any of the official platforms of his employer. You can understand why: the club's fanbase, which runs into the millions, is bound to include many who were sympathetic to the Brexit cause. Football can be a tunnel-vision industry. Very few of the sport's institutions and, by extension, the individuals who serve as their figureheads, want to do anything, or say anything, by venturing into situations they ultimately have no control over. There is simply too much to lose. All of this explains why it was good to hear Guardiola talk about bigger issues than inverted full-backs or box midfields. Not that it should have been a complete surprise. Guardiola has consistently expressed support for Catalan independence, appearing at a rally in 2017 where he cited alleged 'abuses of an authoritarian (Spanish) state'. He wore a yellow ribbon, the symbol of the pro-Catalan cause, for many months as an act of solidarity. Inevitably, Guardiola's backing of specific causes has invited accusations of hypocrisy. While he was quick to call out the Spanish state's treatment of his home region, he has had rather less to say about the human rights record in Abu Dhabi, the source of Manchester City's money. A 2024 Amnesty International report detailed how the United Arab Emirates 'persisted in criminalizing the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly'. Advertisement At Manchester University, Guardiola, somewhat imaginatively, used the tale of a bird trying to stop a forest fire by using droplets of water from its mouth, despite the doubts of a snake. 'In a world that often tells us that we are too small to make a difference, that story reminds me that the power of one is not about the scale, it's about choice,' Guardiola said. 'About showing up, about refusing to be silent or still when it matters most.' Guardiola would stress his comments were not driven by 'ideology,' and he did not want to appear to be taking sides, only looking at consequences rather than causes or motivations, before applying what he has seen to his relationship with his own family. This sort of context often gets lost in social media reaction and, it seems, in the reporting of some Israeli news outlets which focused their coverage on some of the things Guardiola did not mention, including the October 7 attacks, or Hamas taking Israeli hostages. Guardiola, nevertheless, handled the topic with the level of sensitivity that is not always found at a time when, across a range of political issues, many public figures seem to want to prove themselves right and everyone else wrong. It is often easy for football managers, in their public appearances away from pre- and post-match press conferences, to play to the gallery by highlighting local or even broader issues that face some of their fanbase but this was not one of those occasions. Guardiola said what he said because he believes it and that showed both courage and a curiosity about the world which befits a man who has worked in six countries across Europe, North America and Asia. Managers or head coaches often like to seem worldly and sage but, in truth, the job often only affords relatively narrow experiences due to the immediate pressures of a results-driven industry that means when you start losing, you are out of work quicker than you can say 'Rodri'. Their existence becomes a routine of home, training ground and hotel. If they switch the television on, it is often simply because they are watching a recent match of an opponent, or reviewing one of their own team's games. Advertisement Even though Carlo Ancelotti is considered cultured because he successfully worked in each of the major five European leagues before landing the job as Brazil's national team manager, we barely know anything about his views on the world around him. Maybe that is because he is smart enough to realise that keeping your head down and not making enemies works pretty well. By contrast, another great modern manager, Jose Mourinho, has plenty of adversaries, having worked in the same number of countries during a career nearly as long as Ancelotti's. Unlike Ancelotti, Mourinho had virtually no playing career to speak of and has got to where he is only because of an obsession with bettering himself. If there is time for anyone outside his own family, it has not really shown. Guardiola, by comparison, has reminded the world that he does have a hinterland and that he is prepared to use his considerable platform to speak out on causes that matter to him. For that, he should be applauded and others like him encouraged.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Tuesday, June 10. Russia's War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine
ODESA, UKRAINE - JULY 23: An interior view of the Transfiguration Cathedral heavily damaged by ... More Russian missile on July 23, 2023 in Odesa, Ukraine. The Russian missile broke through the roof the main Orthodox cathedral of the city Photo by Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images) Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 1,204. Russia's Attacks on Ukraine A deadly drone strike in the early overnight hours of June 10th on the southern port city of Odesa killed two men and injured nine other people, damaging a maternity hospital, emergency medical station, railway station, Odesa film studio and other civilian sites. In Kyiv, Russian attack has damaged the Saint Sophia Cathedral – a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Meanwhile, systematic shelling by Russian forces in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region killed 10 civilians and injured 31 from June 7 - 10. Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine overnight into June 9, firing a combined total of 499 drones and missiles. The barrage included a record-breaking 479 Iranian-designed Shahed drones and decoys, alongside advanced Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 292 aerial targets, while an additional 187 were neutralized by electronic warfare systems. Ukrainian authorities reported no major civilian damage or casualties from the record-breaking attack, though missile debris and impact sites were recorded at 27 locations across the country. The strike came just days after a large-scale assault on June 6 that killed several civilians and rescue workers in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and other regions. One of the strike's primary targets appeared to be an airfield near the western city of Dubno in Rivne province, which was operational after reportedly being restored in 2020. All four Kinzhal missiles were directed toward Dubno, where they were intercepted by advanced air defenses, such as the U.S.-made Patriot system. The attack on Dubno came amid reports of Ukrainian drones striking deep into Russian territory that same night. Around 50 drones targeted multiple military sites in Russia, including a drone production facility and an airbase in Savasleyka, approximately 218 miles east of Moscow, where two aircraft were destroyed. While Ukraine reported no casualties in the overnight barrage, sustained attacks by Russian forces on Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region later on June 9 resulted in one civilian death. War Developments Russian forces are pushing from Ukraine's besieged eastern region of Donetsk to the outskirts of Ukraine's central and strategically critical Dnipropetrovsk region, sparking conflicting narratives from Moscow and Kyiv. On June 9, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced a Russian advance into Dnipropetrovsk, purportedly aimed at establishing a 'buffer zone,' while Ukrainian officials, including Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's disinformation center, dismissed the claims as false. Earlier reports from the Russian Defense Ministry on June 8 claimed that elements of the 90th Tank Division had reached the western border of the Donetsk region, or oblast, and were conducting offensive operations into Dnipropetrovsk oblast, territory Russia has not officially annexed. However, Ukraine's General Staff denied that Russian troops had crossed the administrative border, asserting that fighting remains confined to border villages. The central Ukrainian oblast of Dnipropetrovsk borders the eastern Donetsk oblast, over two-thirds of which remains under Russian occupation. Ukrainian open-source intelligence group Deep State indicates Russian forces have advanced to within roughly 1.2 miles of the region's administrative boundary. According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian tactical activity near the southeastern edge of Dnipropetrovsk is largely a continuation of offensive operations in the Donetsk region rather than a new major push to seize significant territory in Dnipropetrovsk itself. Satellite imagery and heat data confirm ongoing artillery fire near the border but no confirmed Russian foothold inside Dnipropetrovsk oblast as of early June. Russia and Ukraine commenced a major prisoner-of-war exchange on June 9, beginning with those under 25 years of age. This multistage exchange, emerging from direct negotiations held in Istanbul on June 2, is set to involve at least 1,200 POWs from each side, alongside the repatriation of the remains of thousands of fallen soldiers. Neither side disclosed the exact number of prisoners released so far, citing security concerns. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, said that the exchange will continue 'over the coming days.' In an interview with independent Hungarian weekly Valasz Online, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy underscored that the outcome of the war hinges more on weapons and technology than manpower, as Ukraine mobilizes 27,000 soldiers monthly compared to Russia's 40,000-50,000. 'Mobilization is a problem in every war. Ukraine is no exception…people are getting tired,' Zelenskyy said, emphasizing that Russia's higher losses drive its greater conscription numbers. He further noted that Ukraine has avoided drafting 18-24-year-olds, offering them one-year contracts instead. By Danylo Nosov, Karina L. Tahiliani
