Russian Ballistic Missiles Give Kyiv Residents Four Minutes' Warning or Less
Reporting based primarily on bbc.com.
Intensified Russian Attacks Exhaust Kyiv Residents
Russia has scaled up the intensity and frequency of its attacks against Kyiv. In the first 10 days of July alone, Russia launched dozens of ballistic missiles in three major attacks on the city, killing nearly 60 civilians according to official figures, with similar large-scale attacks taking place in August and September. [1] A BBC Verify analysis of government figures found that Kyiv is now suffering more daily air raid alerts than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. [1] Previously, Ukraine's air-defence network and military intelligence gave residents a degree of predictability, as large-scale attacks could often be detected in advance. [1] Since the summer, Russia has changed its tactics by relying less on aircraft whose movements can be spotted ahead of time and more on ballistic missiles that travel at tremendous speed and provide little warning. [1] Air-raid alerts sometimes begin only moments before impact, or even simultaneously with the first explosions. [1] Ballistic missiles are difficult to detect in advance, and during a ballistic attack residents might have just four minutes' warning or less. [1]
Personal Accounts of Fear and Adaptation
Daria left her apartment in Kyiv this summer after Russia's attacks on the city intensified. [1] For much of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Daria was not afraid of the shelling and could sleep through explosions in her apartment by relying on the two-wall rule. [1] During an attack one night in May, Daria realised she no longer felt safe in her home when explosions caused windows to repeatedly slam open and shut. [1] In June, after a young mother was killed running to a shelter in Kyiv, Daria decided to leave the city altogether and now commutes four hours a day from her family's country house 30km away. [1] Sixty-two-year-old Olha Vlasova lives on the seventh floor of a high-rise apartment block with her 98-year-old mother, Nadia Tsybina. [1] Nadia remains intensely engaged with the world from her bed, following events in Ukraine and abroad. [1] This summer Nadia has heard fewer interceptions and says it is upsetting when there is nothing to shoot missiles down with. [1] With Nadia confined to her bed, she and Olha cannot go to a shelter. [1] As soon as an air-raid siren sounds, Olha covers her mother with a blanket, pushes a mattress into their window frame, and hides in a wardrobe while Nadia places a pillow over her head. [1] Once in her wardrobe, Olha often stays awake watching the news all night. [1] Nadia says people do not sleep and then walk around like zombies. [1] In another part of the city, mother-of-two Natalia Bushkovska each night rehearses three different plans for sheltering. [1] Natalia keeps a backpack with essential items including a tourniquet for severe bleeding and a whistle in case rescuers need to find them under rubble. [1] Her nine-year-old daughter has her own emergency bag containing toys, lip balm and a tourniquet. [1]
Impact on Daily Life and Children
An increase in daytime attacks means life in Kyiv is now interrupted by air raid sirens day and night. [1] At the beginning of September, when children returned to school after the summer break, there were dozens of air raid alerts followed by explosions and fires. [1] According to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, two children were injured in attacks on 31 August. [1] As a result many children stayed at home while others spent hours in the basements of schools and kindergartens. [1] When the sirens sound it also affects businesses and transport, with shopping centres closing and above-ground metro stations suspending operations, often severing public transport links between Kyiv's Left and Right Banks for hours at a time. [1] For Olha it has meant seeing less of her eight-year-old granddaughter who lives on the other side of the city, and crossing the river by cab can cost as much as 1,000 hryvnias when metro services stop. [1] Natalia says the constant attacks are exhausting. [1]
Recent Strikes Kill Civilians in Eastern and Southern Ukraine
Two people were killed in a Russian attack on Balakliia in Kharkiv Oblast on 18 September, with two others injured and taken to hospital. [5] A fire broke out at the site of the strike, roofs of houses were damaged and windows were shattered. [5] Two men were killed in a Russian drone attack on the village of Tekstylne in Kherson Oblast on the evening of 18 September. [4] Russian troops attacked the settlement at around 18:00, and the two men sustained fatal injuries. [4] On the afternoon of 18 September Russian forces also dropped explosives from a drone onto the grounds of a hospital in Kherson, damaging service vehicles. [4]
Calls for More Air Defence Support
The experience has left Olha frustrated with what she sees as hesitation by some of Ukraine's foreign partners to provide additional air-defence missiles. [1] President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly appealed to allies for additional air-defence systems and interceptor missiles. [1] Olha says Ukraine's allies wait thinking what if we get attacked, comparing it to refusing to give medicine to a cancer patient because you might get sick one day. [1]
What to watch next: Residents in Kyiv continue to adapt emergency plans amid ongoing ballistic missile threats that provide minimal warning, while President Zelensky maintains appeals for more air-defence support from allies.
