Russia’s round-the-clock attacks disrupt daily life in Kyiv

In Kyiv, the assumption that daylight brings a return to normal life has been shattered. Russian attacks that once mostly came at night are now striking during the day as well, forcing residents to live with disruption around the clock.

The change has compounded the fear of overnight strikes with the exhaustion of constant daytime alerts. Sirens interrupt commutes, shopping trips and children’s school, while air-raid protocols require malls, banks and other businesses to clear their premises whenever a warning sounds.

Volodymyr Bovsunovskyi recently took his family to a mall to buy clothes for his nearly 4-year-old daughter. After about 20 minutes, an alert sent them rushing outside, where they saw smoke rising nearby. They never bought the clothes. “A lot has changed in the last seven days,” he said.

Train journeys that normally take a few hours have stretched much longer. Some passengers have walked for hours through fields after trains stopped, carrying their belongings as alerts continued. Disrupted GPS signals have also made taxi apps unreliable, with nearby cars suddenly appearing far away or showing impossible arrival times.

The attacks have taken lives and left residents wondering how long they can continue living under repeated warnings. The familiar sounds of air defenses intercepting drones, smoke rising in the distance and photos of destruction spreading through Telegram channels have become part of Kyiv’s daily routine.

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A lot has changed in the last seven days.