Kyiv, Sep 2: Russia launched an overnight barrage of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, officials said on Monday, as children prepared to return to school across Ukraine. Some pupils found classes cancelled because of damage from the attack.
Several series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours. Debris from intercepted missiles and drones fell in every district of Kyiv, wounding three people and damaging two kindergartens, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said. City authorities reported multiple fires.
After more than 900 days of the war, Russia and Ukraine show no sign of letting up in the fight or moving closer to the negotiating table. Both sides are pursuing ambitious ground offensives, with the Ukrainians driving into Russia’s Kursk region and the Russian army pushing deeper into the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine that is part of the industrial Donbas region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Ukraine’s Kursk assault won’t prevent Russian forces from advancing in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian forces haven’t achieved their goal of diverting Russian troops from the fighting there, he said.
“The main task that the enemy set for themselves – to stop our offensive in Donbas – they haven’t achieved it,” Putin told school students during a trip to southern Siberia.
However, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month that the aim of the Kursk incursion is to create a buffer zone that might prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border.
Putin predicted that Ukraine’s Kursk offensive, which began August 6, will fail and that subsequently Kyiv officials will want “to move to peace talks”.
Russia launched 35 missiles of various types and 26 Shahed drones at Ukraine overnight from Sunday to Monday, the Ukrainian air force said. Nine ballistic missiles, 13 cruise missiles and 20 drones were downed, it said. (AP)
