By Valentyn Ogirenko and Jekaterina Golubkova
KYIV, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Nine people were killed and over a dozen injured in Russian air attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding region on Tuesday, authorities said, in the sixth consecutive day of strikes on the Ukrainian capital.
Attacks both in Ukraine and Russia continue as efforts are ongoing to find a solution to end the deadliest conflict on the European continent since the World War Two, which started with Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Eight people were killed and another five wounded in Kyiv, three of them children, and fires broke out in different locations around the capital, emergency service said on the Telegram messaging app.
In Boryspil in the Kyiv region, one person was killed and another nine, including a child, were injured after missiles and drones damaged an apartment building and a business facility, Governor Tymur Tkachenko said on Telegram.
The daily Russian strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region are disrupting the lives of millions of people. Air raid alerts covered most of Ukraine’s territory in the early hours of Tuesday.
Russia has been increasing attacks on Ukraine’s borders, in addition to energy and logistic facilities, and on Tuesday a fresh strike stopped border crossings into Romania – a member of the European Union and NATO – at Orlivka on the Danube river.
In Russia, a drone attack caused a fire in the port area of Ust-Luga, a major export outlet in the northwest, and Moscow was repelling drones.
In Russia’s Samara region, home to a number of major oil refineries some 800 km (500 miles) southeast of Moscow, an air attack damaged civilian facilities, the local governor said on Telegram.
Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians. Reuters could not independently verify the damage reports.
PEACE EFFORTS
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he held a “detailed and constructive” call with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and that the sides were working to finalise dates for their visit to Ukraine aimed at advancing peace efforts.
The same day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the war needed to end for humanity’s sake. The Kremlin leader said Moscow was “moving forward along this path”.
The has conflict prompted some NATO members, especially those bordering Russia, to bolster their military capabilities, also in the wake of intensifying drone incidents in the border areas.
The NATO Baltic air policing mission has briefly activated jet fighters in Latvia, and Finland has restricted air and maritime traffic close to Russia, armed forces of both countries said separately on X, as drones were flying over Russia’s Leningrad region where Ust-Luga is located.
Margus Tsahkna, foreign minister of Estonia, which has also briefly issued air threat alert on Tuesday, in a post on X thanked NATO for reacting “swiftly and exactly as planned” by putting fighter jets in air.
(Reporting by Valentyn Ogirenko in Kyiv and Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Tom Hogue and Stephen Coates)
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