The screech of air-raid sirens, the buzzing of drones, first approaching, then fading. The rattle of machine guns and the roar of air defense missiles being launched. Explosions in the sky.
These are the sounds of Kyiv, night after night, including on Tuesday, when Russia attacked Ukraine with 315 drones and seven missiles, Ukrainian officials say.
Kyiv residents described Tuesday as one of the loudest nights in a monthslong air campaign by Russia, which has intensified despite pressure from the Trump administration to work toward a cease-fire. A record number of drones and missiles have been launched, according to Ukrainian officials.
On Tuesday, fires and damaged buildings were reported in eight of Kyiv’s 10 districts, in more than 40 sites around the city, local officials said. In the morning, black smoke floated over the city and ambulance sirens could be heard. Near one of the still-smoking buildings in Podilsky district, a destroyed Russian drone was lying on the ground.
The attacks have been terrifying in many cities, making a good night’s sleep impossible. When the sun rises, people get up and try to shake off the stiffness in their backs from sleeping in uncomfortable positions — in corridors, bathrooms or subway stations — and fight through the fog of a sleepless night to carry on with their lives.
“All night in a shelter, the children trembled and cried,” Larysa Bilozir, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, wrote on Facebook on Tuesday morning. “But we, the people of Kyiv — and I — are heading to work!”
She added that as she wrote, her son was already at nursery school and she had arrived at Parliament to meet with visiting delegates from the Council of Europe. “I wonder how they survived this night in Kyiv,” she wrote.
On Tuesday, all missiles and most drones targeted the capital, Col. Yurii Ihnat, the head of the communications department of the Ukrainian Air Force, told Ukrainian media, although other cities are also coming under fire.
In the southern city of Odesa, two people were killed on Tuesday and nine others injured, local officials said.
In the heart of Kyiv, the 11th-century St. Sophia Cathedral, an important site in Orthodox Christianity, was damaged, according to Mykola Tochytskyi, Ukraine’s minister of culture.
“Last night, the enemy once again struck at the very heart of our identity,” Mr. Tochytskyi said in a statement. A blast wave damaged the cornice on the cathedral’s main apse, he said.
At St. Sophia Square, Aliona Sidei, a lawyer passing by, said she was deeply saddened by the damage to the cathedral. “It’s our national monument,” she said, adding that she had spent the night in her bathroom as the windows and doors of her apartment shook: “I just want all of this to end.”
Ruslan Kopytsia, 53, an entrepreneur, was sitting on a bench in a park not far from the cathedral. He said he had already accepted the nightly strikes as a part of his life. “There is some psychological strain, of course,” he said, “but it’s an inevitable part of the war.”
In another blow to Ukrainian culture, the Odesa Film Studio — founded in 1919, and one of the oldest cinematic institutions in Europe — was also struck. Mr. Tochytskyi said production buildings, costume and prop warehouses, historic sets and technical vehicles were damaged.
The overnight barrages came a day after Russia launched almost 500 drones and missiles at Ukraine in what Ukrainian officials said was the largest such assault since the Russian invasion in early 2022. Two people were killed in the attacks overnight Sunday, according to Ukrainian officials; eight people were killed across the country in various attacks on Tuesday, they said.
The assaults have escalated since Ukraine mounted a wave of drone strikes on strategic bombers at air bases inside Russia on June 1. The recent strikes appear to be part of a broader campaign by Moscow to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses as it mounts a new ground offensive in eastern Ukraine.
In the meantime, efforts by the Trump administration to push both sides toward a cease-fire have faltered.
Maryna Mussat, 44, a masseuse, lives in Kyiv with her husband and two teenage children. During the night, her son became frightened and ran into her bedroom. She told him to hide in a dressing room, but she stayed in bed.
“I was so tired that I just pushed myself deeper into the pillow,” she said. By 7:30 a.m., she was at work, preparing for her first clients.
“I knew the dawn would come eventually,” she said, “and I can’t let people down because of this lousy Russia.”
Ms. Mussat said she feels the tension from the war in her clients’ bodies. “When they’re under stress, their bodies are firm, tense and every inch hurts,” she said. She added that after Tuesday’s barrage, she planned to ask a colleague for a massage of her own later in the day.
“It’s important not to give up, even after a very hard night,” she said.
Nataliia Novosolova contributed reporting.