Russian jet-powered drone attacks reshape daily life in five Ukrainian cities

Left · 1Jet-powered drones, which Russia began using extensively in late summer 2026, have changed the rhythm of life in Ukraine's major cities, according to Meduza. 1 Left · 1Meduza says strikes have hit factories, warehouses, train stations, shopping malls, business centers, gas stations and even kindergartens, and that air raid sirens now sound constantly. 1 Left · 1Meduza summarises reporting by Ukrainska Pravda, done with colleagues at regional outlets, on Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv. 1

Left · 1In Kyiv, no day in September passed without an air raid alert, and alerts totalled 242 hours and 40 minutes. Authorities introduced a more flexible threat-level system, and at the "yellow" level many institutions can keep operating. 1 Left · 1Kyiv's bridges over the Dnipro River have been struck, making travel between the left and right banks harder. In October the city returned to emergency and scheduled power cuts, and strikes on data centers slowed mobile internet in some neighborhoods. 1 Left · 1Kharkiv, near the front line, hears sirens about 10 times a day on average, yet its factories stay open, malls keep operating during alerts, and public transport keeps running. Children there study online or in underground schools, and gas stations, frequently struck recently, have cables strung around them to stop small drones. 1

Left · 1In Zaporizhzhia, almost all large malls have been destroyed, and the Zaporizhstal steel plant, the city's largest employer, stopped operating after missile strikes in September. The city has 10 underground schools, and minibuses serving the Kushuhum community are being covered with metal mesh after first-person-view drones attacked public transport at least twice in September. 1 Left · 1In Dnipro, September air raid alerts were five times as frequent as a year earlier. Many residents rely on the "two-wall rule" because the city has too few shelters, but there has been no large-scale exodus. 1 Left · 1In Odesa, sirens sound about 10 times a day during drone waves, alerts delay intercity buses and trains, and gas stations have closed more often during alerts over the past month. 1

Left · 1Schools across the cities mix remote and in-person teaching, and parents complain that constant trips to basements mean children learn less. Ukrainska Pravda said Kyiv families sometimes move to other cities for their children's education. 1 Right · 1The Daily Mail's Chris Pleasance, in an opinion piece, says Ukraine faces its bleakest winter of the war so far, not only because of Russian missiles aimed at power plants and water supplies. He calls jet-powered drones the newest weapon Moscow uses against Ukraine, particularly Kyiv. 2