Russian drones batter Kyiv region for second day as repeated waves hit homes, warehouses and exhaust air defences
By SCN NEWS
KYIV — Russia sent repeated waves of drones toward Kyiv and its surrounding region for a second consecutive day on Friday, killing at least one person, damaging apartment buildings, homes and warehouses and repeatedly forcing millions of residents to respond to air-raid warnings, in what Ukrainian officials described as an attempt to exhaust air defences while paralysing the capital's daily and economic life. The renewed attacks followed an extraordinary Thursday in which Kyiv spent almost 15 hours under air-raid alerts, with sirens sounding 13 separate times — the highest single-day number reported in the capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Kyiv regional authorities said Friday's attacks damaged 14 warehouses, 16 private homes, three apartment buildings and 16 vehicles across the Fastiv, Boryspil, Vyshhorod, Brovary and Bucha districts. One person was killed and two others were wounded. Fires broke out at several warehouse locations and among parked vehicles, while blast waves shattered windows in residential buildings. The State Emergency Service said firefighters were repeatedly forced to work while the aerial threat remained active.
At one location, Ukrainian emergency authorities said another Russian drone struck after rescue crews had already arrived, an attack the military describes as a “double tap” because a second strike follows the initial impact while firefighters or other responders are operating at the site. Emergency workers temporarily withdrew, conducted reconnaissance and then returned to fight the fire. Authorities urged civilians not to gather near strike locations because continuing drone activity meant both residents and first responders remained exposed after the original explosion.
The intensity of the attacks is increasingly being driven by a change in how Russia deploys its drones. Rather than concentrating all of its weapons into one short mass barrage, Ukrainian officials say Moscow is sending small groups of fast-moving, jet-powered drones in successive waves, extending the threat across many hours and repeatedly forcing the capital back into an alert. Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation, said the objective was to wear down both air defences and the population. Some newer jet-powered drones can travel significantly faster than conventional propeller-driven Shahed-type weapons, potentially forcing Ukraine to rely on more capable — and more expensive — interception systems.
The numbers illustrate the pressure. Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 164 drones overnight into Friday, including Shahed-type attack drones, Gerbera drones and decoys, with roughly half described as jet-powered. Ukrainian forces said they shot down or otherwise neutralised 137, while impacts were recorded at 16 locations and debris fell at another four. Around 10 Russian drones remained in Ukrainian airspace as of 9 a.m., meaning the attack was still underway when the initial assessment was released.
The target pattern is also attracting growing attention. Russian strikes over recent days have repeatedly damaged warehouses, distribution facilities, postal terminals and major retailers rather than only traditional military or energy targets. Nova Poshta, Ukraine's largest private courier service, said sorting centres near Kyiv and in Sumy were destroyed. A warehouse used by Ukrainian book retailers was also destroyed, while other recent strikes have hit food-storage and home-improvement facilities. Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi said Friday that roughly 90% of food logistics operated by Ukrainian retail chains had been destroyed, although he stressed that this did not mean Ukraine would run out of food because companies were reorganising supply chains.
That emerging logistics campaign may be economically more consequential than individual warehouse fires suggest. Reuters reported that fresh produce, milk products, sugar and other goods have periodically disappeared from some Kyiv supermarket shelves following attacks on distribution facilities. Train services have also suffered hours-long delays as repeated alerts interrupt transportation, while businesses and workers repeatedly stop activity and move to shelters. Ukrainian officials argue that the cumulative effect is intended to make a functioning city operate as though it were permanently under siege even when relatively few drones are physically overhead at any one moment.
Moscow presented a different account of its objectives. Russia's Defence Ministry said its overnight strikes targeted a Kyiv-region warehouse storing Ukrainian Flamingo cruise missiles and rocket-booster fuel. Ukrainian authorities did not immediately confirm that claim, and AP said it could not independently verify it. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russia was systematically attacking military and military-related infrastructure. Documented damage, however, includes homes, apartment buildings, warehouses and civilian businesses, making the nature of individual targets an important distinction that cannot be resolved solely from claims by either side.
The attacks around Kyiv are unfolding alongside renewed Russian pressure on Ukraine's energy infrastructure as colder weather approaches. In southern Kherson, regional authorities are warning residents to consider moving to safer areas after Russian glide bombs forced a combined heat-and-power plant to shut down. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin warned that parts of the region could face prolonged periods without electricity or heating during winter. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly described Russia's seasonal attacks on energy infrastructure as an attempt to “weaponize winter.”
Ukraine is simultaneously escalating its own long-range campaign inside Russia. Kyiv said Ukrainian drones struck the Slavneft-YANOS refinery in Yaroslavl, one of Russia's largest oil-processing facilities, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said a separate Ukrainian operation damaged a Tu-95 strategic bomber at Engels air base. Russian officials said 512 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight across Russian territory, the Black Sea and occupied Crimea. A drone attack in Yaroslavl region killed one person and wounded 27, according to the regional governor, including passengers injured when debris struck a bus. The competing claims underline how increasingly the war's aerial battlefield extends far behind both countries' front lines.
The significance of the latest Kyiv attacks consequently lies not simply in how many drones Russia launches or buildings it damages. The duration of the threat itself has become a weapon. Thursday's 13 alerts kept Kyiv under warning for 872 minutes — 14 hours and 32 minutes. By Friday, repeated waves were again forcing residents into shelters, disrupting trains, businesses and emergency operations even when individual groups of drones were relatively small.
Russia's evolving strategy appears designed to impose a cost even when a drone is successfully intercepted. Every new wave can activate sirens, move residents underground, interrupt transportation, deploy air-defence systems and force emergency workers to change operations. A drone does not necessarily need to hit its target to disrupt the capital. After more than four and a half years of full-scale war, Kyiv is confronting a form of aerial pressure in which the objective, Ukrainian officials say, is increasingly not only destruction but exhaustion.