War in Ukraine: Red alert in permanent mode

The two neighbors actually wanted to spend the night together in the Kyiv subway station on Thursday night. Once again, the relevant Telegram channels warned of a “massive air attack” on the Ukrainian capital overnight. But one of the two had decided to stay in his apartment and sleep in the corridor.

His neighbor had previously given him some advice: "Leave the apartment door ajar. If the house is hit and burns, the heat can cause the door frame to warp so much that you can no longer get the door open. And then you are alone with the smoke and the fire."

The neighbor turned out to be right in his decision to take the subway. It was one of the loudest nights in Kyiv in recent weeks. Russia attacked the city with ballistic missiles and large numbers of drones. Around ten explosions were heard in one part of the city alone. With the thunder and the clatter of shattering windows, sleep was out of the question.

Warehouses, an office building, homes and cars were damaged in the attacks. A deep crater appeared in a courtyard. A school and a high-rise building were damaged, windows and parts of the facade were torn out. The authorities reported a total of 18 injuries in Kyiv this morning, including two children aged ten and twelve.

Systems belonging to the water supplier Kyivvodokanal were also affected. Windows and doors were damaged in one train. A depot and railway facilities were also damaged. The Berestyn train station in the Kharkiv region was also hit by a drone before sunrise. Fortunately, passengers and railway employees were able to get to safety in time.

In the Odessa region, a multi-story residential building was hit by a drone. A total of seven people were injured in the Odessa region, including an elderly woman and a 13-year-old child. The civilian supply and logistics infrastructure suffered particularly. Recently, Russia has been increasingly attacking food supply facilities. The shelves in most grocery stores in the capital are already partially empty.

The first all-clear was given in Kyiv shortly after three in the morning. The neighbor on the fourth floor got up briefly, checked the electricity and water supply and lay down again - still in street clothes as a precaution. But an hour later the sirens blared again. This time the city's warning app only showed the lower alert level: drones were expected.

The scenario repeated itself until the afternoon: alarm, explosions, all-clear – alarm, explosions, all-clear. A friend contacted me from Odessa. A pressure wave forced open the windows of her apartment. "It's been going on like this for many days and nights. Soon I won't be able to stand it anymore," she said.

There is also a fire in Russia. The opposition Telegram channel Astra reports on a Ukrainian attack on an oil refinery in Yaroslavl. Windows of several houses and cars were damaged by falling debris.

The governor of Rostov-on-Don reported a fire, a damaged transformer station and power outages in four city districts. Nobody was injured. According to Astra, this fire apparently occurred in the area of ​​the parking areas for aircraft and helicopters on the grounds of the Rostov-on-Don Centralny military airfield.