Overnight on 26 October, Russians killed three people, including a 19-year-old woman and her 46-year-old mother, and injured 31 civilians, among them seven children, in Kyiv. Their attacks in other regions left at least five more civilians dead and 18 injured, local authorities reported. Russia launched 101 strike drones overnight, and Ukraine’s Air Force said it destroyed or suppressed 90 of them.

Kyiv under fire for the second night

For the second consecutive night, Russia targeted residential neighborhoods in Kyiv. A kamikaze drone hit a nine-story apartment building in the Desnianskyi district, collapsing floors between levels and sparking multiple fires.

The Kyiv City Military Administration said the Russian attack on Kyiv injured 31 civilians in total, seven of them children. Three people were killed, including a young 19-year-old woman and her 46-year-old mother, the Interior Ministry reported.

According to the Emergency Service, rescuers evacuated dozens of residents, pulling several people from burning homes. Over 100 rescuers and police officers, supported by more than 20 emergency vehicles, worked through the night to extinguish the fires and clear the rubble. Search operations ended with no more people found under the debris.

Residents described the night to Suspilne as terrifying.

“There was heavy smoke, everything flew apart. It was very scary,” said Yelyzaveta, whose fifth-floor apartment balcony burned down. “We barely escaped, my child, husband, and dog. We were breathing through wet towels.”

Another resident, Illia, said he heard “the sound of a Shahed, then a powerful explosion” and saw firefighters rescuing a small girl from the building.

Several other districts of the capital were also hit. In the Obolonskyi district, debris from a drone struck a 16-story apartment building, shattering windows but causing no casualties. In the Darnytskyi district, fragments damaged fences and a car in a private residential area.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Russia’s goal was to cause maximum civilian suffering.

“Russia strikes residential quarters so that as many civilians as possible are harmed. The enemy’s tactic is terror, the goal is pain and suffering,” he wrote. He added that psychologists had already provided assistance to about 150 people.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 100 drones were launched by Russia during the night, targeting ordinary apartment buildings.

“Every Russian strike is an attempt to inflict as much damage as possible on normal life,” he said, adding that Ukraine continues to defend itself on all fronts and praised new sanctions imposed by the EU and the US against Russia.

Other Russian attacks across Ukraine

• In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russians killed a 63-year-old man and injured another person when they bombed the village of Rivnopillia in the Huliaipole community, regional head Ivan Fedorov reported.
• In Donetsk Oblast, two civilians were killed and one injured in Russian shelling of Kostiantynivka and the Kostiantynivka community, according to Suspilne Donbas.
• In Kherson Oblast, three civilians were injured in Russian artillery and drone attacks. A Russian drone dropped an explosive on a woman in Kherson, causing shrapnel and head injuries, while a 71-year-old woman in Antonivka was wounded after stepping on Russian explosives, the oblast administration said.
• In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Russian forces attacked with missiles, drones, and artillery, killing two people and injuring eight, regional authorities reported.
• In Kharkiv, a family of five, including two children, suffered acute stress reactions after a drone attack late in the evening, according to Suspilne Kharkiv.
• Russia also attacked Sumy Oblast with drones, guided bombs, and rocket systems but caused no civilian casualties.
• In Chernihiv, a drone strike hit a company’s premises, setting a truck on fire, but no injuries were reported.

Air Force: 90 out of 101 drones destroyed

Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia attacked overnight from multiple directions, including Kursk, Oryol, Bryansk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, and the occupied Hvardiyiske airfield in Crimea. Around 60 of the 101 Russian drones were explosive Shaheds, alongside decoy Gerbera and other types. Ukrainian aviation, air defense, and mobile fire units intercepted or suppressed 90 of them.

Debris and direct hits were recorded at several locations, including in Kyiv.

The Air Force warned that several Russian drones were still in the air at the time of reporting, around 9:00.

In its latest disinformation effort, the Kremlin launched a staged narrative claiming Russian forces had seized a strategic bridgehead in Kherson Oblast. But geolocated footage published by Ukrainian troops shows otherwise. Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports the operation is part of Moscow’s broader cognitive warfare campaign aimed at making Ukraine submit and discouraging Western support by convincing the US and EU that a Russian victory is inevitable.

Russia stages false bridgehead in Kherson

Russian-installed Kherson occupation head Vladimir Saldo published footage on 22 October showing a Russian soldier raising a flag on Karantynnyi Island in the 5th Selyshche Microraion in southwestern Kherson City. Saldo claimed Russian reconnaissance and airborne units had crossed the Dnipro River, repelled Ukrainian counterattacks, secured a bridgehead, mined access routes, and begun organizing logistics for a sustained presence.

Some Russian milbloggers echoed Saldo’s narrative, crediting drone operators of the 31st VDV Brigade with establishing air superiority and artillery units of the 18th Combined Arms Army with striking Ukrainian targets on the island and nearby bridges. One milblogger also alleged Russian sabotage groups were preparing to hunt Ukrainian forces in the Korabelnyi Microraion on the northeastern part of the island.

Ukrainian forces bust Russian claims

On 23 October, a Ukrainian brigade released a geolocated video showing its troops moving freely through Ostriv Microraion—part of Karantynnyi Island—directly contradicting Russian claims of an active military presence. The brigade stated that Karantynnyi Island, as well as the areas of Antonivka and Sadove east of Kherson City, remain “silent,” with no sign of Russian forces on the west bank of the Dnipro River.

A Russian milblogger focused on the Kherson front had claimed Russian troops had pushed Ukrainian forces out of Sadove and conducted sabotage near Antonivka. ISW assessed that no available evidence supports these assertions.

"The Kremlin is attempting to falsely portray Russian forces as having established a bridgehead in west (right) bank Kherson Oblast – a new Russian cognitive warfare effort against Ukraine and its partners," ISW wrote, adding: "Available evidence continues to indicate that Russian forces have not established a bridgehead or begun an offensive in west bank Kherson Oblast."

According to ISW, this information operation fits within a larger pattern: the Kremlin wants to project inevitability of victory to the European Union, the US, and Ukraine itself, encouraging submission to Moscow’s demands and eroding foreign support for Ukraine. ISW notes this narrative undermines Russia’s own occasional signals of willingness to negotiate territorial matters in southern Ukraine.

"ISW continues to assess that this Russian cognitive warfare effort is incompatible with any claim that Russia is willing to make territorial concessions in southern Ukraine," the think tank concluded.

Update: Russian propaganda outlet retracts its report on the island capture that never happened