KYIV, Oct. 24 (EconoTimes) — In Kyiv, the threat of an air raid can determine whether a child gets to class or whether a family spends the night underground. DW reported that some residents take mattresses and small tents to metro stations, and that one mother, Halyna, brings her 5-year-old son there even on evenings without an air-raid siren.
The risks reach classrooms as well as homes. A Russian Shahed drone struck a Kyiv school on Oct. 1, damaging the building; Ukraine’s presidential office said more than 100 children and over 60 teachers were inside its shelter and no one was injured. Principal Valentyna Chorna told DW that the shelter can hold more than 500 students, allowing pupils in grades one through nine to attend in person.
DW reported that a September drone strike on an apartment building in Pechersk killed 14-year-old Daniel Umanskyj while he was doing homework. A neighbor, Vlad, told DW he and his daughter survived because they were late that day. The Associated Press separately reported an hours-long Russian ballistic-missile barrage on Kyiv on Oct. 22.
The Kyiv City Military Administration figures cited by DW show 140 people killed in the capital from January through August 2026, compared with 172 in all of 2025.
Residents’ willingness to continue is reflected in a KIIS survey conducted Sept. 12-21: 72% of Kyiv respondents said they were prepared to endure the war as long as necessary. The poll covered 1,002 adults across government-controlled Ukraine; KIIS did not report a separate sample size for Kyiv.
DW also reported supermarket shortages after warehouse attacks and renewed emergency power cuts in Kyiv at the end of September. With winter approaching, the reliability of heat, electricity and water remains uncertain, according to the report.
