Russian missile barrage hits Kyiv rail depot and residential areas, killing 12

Overnight strikes across Kyiv and Boryspil

Russian forces launched a coordinated overnight assault using ballistic missiles and drones against Kyiv and the surrounding region on 1 September 2026. The Ukrainian State Emergency Service reported that at least 12 people died and more than 17 others suffered injuries across the region, including five children. In the neighbouring city of Boryspil, strikes hit a commercial site and damaged a five-story residential building, leading to four fatalities and 13 injuries. Emergency crews evacuated 50 residents from the damaged apartment block before municipal services were restored. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the deceased across Ukraine included an Indian national.

Rail infrastructure and logistics targeted

Ballistic missiles directly struck a Kyiv railway depot and adjacent transport infrastructure during the night. Oleksandr Pertsovsky, chairman of the board of state rail operator Ukrzaliznytsia, reported that the strike killed seven people, six of whom were railway employees, while another worker was hospitalized in a nearby facility. The blast destroyed a maintenance workshop and triggered multiple fires that emergency crews worked through the morning to contain. Rail traffic was temporarily halted along two segments before services resumed later in the day. Pertsovsky noted that dozens of workers found safety inside bomb shelters during the bombardment.

Overnight ballistic strikes on Kyiv targeted the railway depot and other railway infrastructure. The ballistic attack caused the death of seven people, six of whom were our employees.

First day of school in underground shelters

The bombardment coincided with the start of the Ukrainian school year on 1 September, sending children and teachers into subterranean shelters shortly after their opening lessons. At one institution serving 400 students across grades one to nine, principal Roman Feshchuk operated classes from two underground bunkers. City administration records show that 318 educational facilities in Kyiv have sustained damage since the start of the full-scale invasion, with municipal workers repairing 205 of those sites to date. Feshchuk noted that first-grade enrollment declined this year, partly due to structural damage from an earlier Russian strike in May.

Airspace warnings and international reactions

Following the attacks on Kyiv and port facilities in Odesa, President Zelensky warned international commercial carriers and insurers against operating within Russian airspace. He stated that Ukrainian retaliatory drone operations across Russian territory would make air corridors hazardous, while emphasizing that Ukraine does not target civil aviation directly. Over 1,500 Russian drones had targeted Ukraine over the preceding four days.

Escalation cannot and will not remain confined to Ukrainian territory. Today we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, and anyone who still uses Russia's main airports: Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe.

In Brussels, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged member states holding interceptor missiles nearing expiration to transfer them to Ukraine immediately. The strikes coincided with reports of Russian drone incursions into Latvia, where NATO fighter jets scrambled to patrol the eastern flank.