‘Kyiv is gasping for breath’: Russia’s escalating attacks are upending daily life in the Ukrainian capital. Here’s how residents are coping.

Russian strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region intensified through late spring and summer, with the only sustained break in attacks coming during a visit by U.S. presidential envoys after August 27. Residents got a single full day without air raid alerts, on September 6. Analysts link the shift in tactics to an effort to exhaust Ukraine's air defenses, with strikes expanding from military warehouses to civilian sites, including facilities apparently targeted in retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on Russian logistics and refineries.

Daytime alerts now paralyze the city in ways nighttime strikes alone did not, and disrupted logistics have emptied some staples from Kyiv supermarkets. Residents described adapting through small rituals: sleeping pills, LED strip lights against the dark, movies watched on laptops during blackouts. Many are already bracing for a harder winter as strikes on energy infrastructure loom.

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