Russian attacks kill 4 in Kyiv and surrounding region as air defenses
fall short
[August 08, 2026]
By SUSIE BLANN
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Four people, including a child, were killed in
Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the surrounding
region, local officials said Saturday, as Ukraine hit another oil
refinery in Russia.
Residents endure regular drone and missile barrages that Kyiv’s depleted
air defenses are struggling to counter amid Moscow’s 4-year-old
full-scale invasion, while repeated Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities
have caused fuel shortages and rattled Russians.
Grandparents and grandson killed in Ukraine’s Kyiv region
Two grandparents and their 3-year-old grandson were killed after
multiple Russian drones destroyed their home in the Brovary district of
Kyiv region, northeast of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, early Saturday.
Three other members of the same family and a neighbor who came to their
aid were hospitalized, local authorities said. The attack reduced the
house to rubble and wrecked outbuildings and cars.
In the city of Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at
least one other person died in a “strike involving six ballistic
missiles against civilian infrastructure.”
In its daily report, Ukraine’s air force said it had downed or
intercepted 135 of 151 drones launched by Russia overnight. The attack
also involved six ballistic missiles and other guided missiles.
Russia has relentlessly pounded civilian areas of Ukraine, even though
Moscow insists its forces target only military facilities.
Moscow is exploiting Ukraine’s critical shortage of interceptors for the
U.S.-made Patriot systems, the sole air defense weapon in its arsenal
able to shoot down ballistic missiles.
Zelenskyy has pleaded with other countries, especially the U.S., to send
more of the ammunition made scarcer by the Iran war. Failing that, he
wants to make Patriot ammunition in Ukraine or win permission from Elon
Musk to use his Starlink satellite communications system to guide
strikes inside Russia that can hit its missile launchers.
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Firefighters put out a fire after Russian missiles hit a warehouse
in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
Following the latest attacks, Zelenskyy appealed on X for more
sanctions to “prevent the production of these ballistic missiles,”
along with “anti-ballistic capabilities” and “interceptor missiles.”
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down around 5,300 drones and missiles
last month, Ukraine’s defense ministry said Friday, just under 60%
of the around 9,000 attack drones and missiles Russia fired in the
same period.
Ukraine strikes a Russian oil facility
In Russia, five people were wounded when a fire broke out at the
Ilsky Oil Refinery in the southern Krasnodar region due to debris
from a falling drone, local officials said.
Ukraine’s almost daily long-range drone and missile strikes using
domestically developed weapons have battered Russian oil facilities
for months. The operation has brought a fuel crisis that is
embarrassing the Kremlin.
Zelenskyy in Serbia for talks
The latest attacks came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy arrived Friday for his first official visit to Serbia, one
of the few European countries that have maintained friendly
relations with Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine.
“Important talks are scheduled for today and tomorrow,” Zelenskyy
said Friday. He added that he will meet with Vucic and Serbia’s
Prime Minister Djuro Macut.
“We will discuss expanding economic ties between our countries,
relations with the European Union, and other areas where we can find
practical opportunities that benefit our peoples, as well as
security issues,” Zelenskyy said. ___
Associated Press writer Elise Morton in London contributed to this
report.
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