Kyiv adapts to new reality of life under constant Russian drone attack

A man looks on as smoke rises over a warehouse that was hit by a Russian drone strike in Kyiv region on Aug. 27. | REUTERS

BLOOMBERG

Sep 6, 2026

As a resident of Boryspil, a satellite town of Kyiv, Kostyantyn Kuts has grown accustomed to regular night-time air raids. This past week has been different.

Since late August, Russia has ramped up the frequency of its air assaults on the Ukrainian capital using jet-powered drones that are harder to intercept. With barrages now around the clock rather than mostly at night, life has once again been turned upside down for the city’s more than 3 million inhabitants.

For Kuts, a 39-year-old neurologist who lives with his wife and two children in the suburb of Boryspil, travel from his home on the left bank of the Dnipro River to work on the right bank has become impossibly unpredictable as a result of transport disruptions.

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