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Russian forces have unleashed a major attack on Ukraine in the early hours today, with multiple ballistic missiles targeting the capital Kyiv.
At least five people were killed and 23 have been injured in the strikes, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said, as witnesses reported more than a dozen explosions.
Poland said it was activating a range of defensive measures in response to the strikes unfolding across the border, describing them as “preventive military aviation operations”.
A children’s hospital in Kyiv was struck in the attack, Klitschko said, while people were trapped in one destroyed residential building and fires broke out in multiple locations.
The attack comes hours after president Vladimir Putin admitted that Ukrainian attacks were causing Russia harm, in statements made on Wednesday.
“Of course, such attacks have not caused, and could not cause, critical consequences. However, they do inflict damage; this is obvious, and we fully understand and acknowledge it,” he told a conference of ministers and business leaders on the economy.
Ukraine has upped its long-range attacks on critical energy infrastructure over the last few months.
North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim Jong Un, denied Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s claim that Pyongyang plans to send up to 50,000 more troops to Russia to fight for its ally.
Kim Yo Jong, a top official in North Korea’s ruling party, said in a statement published by state media KCNA that Zelensky’s estimate was “groundless” and “a self-staged incident”.
Zelensky made his claim in a post on X this month, and he called on South Korea to provide support for his country’s air defences.
Kim Yo Jong said responsibility for the outbreak and for the prolongation of the Ukraine crisis lay entirely with the United States and the West.
North Korea sent an estimated 14,000 soldiers to Russia’s Kursk Region in 2024, under a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty agreed during Russian president Vladimir Putin’s June 2024 visit to Pyongyang.
Arpan Rai20 August 2026 06:39
Arpan Rai20 August 2026 06:11
Ukraine’s parliament approved the appointment of Yevhenii Khmara as new defence minister.
President Volodymyr Zelensky nominated Khmara, whom he had earlier appointed as acting minister, after the ousting of Mykhailo Fedorov in July.
The appointment was backed by 312 lawmakers, with 226 needed for a majority.
Khmara, a former top special forces operative, takes up the critical defence portfolio amid fresh political turmoil for the president, who had faced weeks of protests over his dismissal of 35-year-old reformer Fedorov.
Arpan Rai20 August 2026 06:06
Electricity was temporarily shut off this morning in Sevastopol, the biggest city in Russian-annexed Crimea, according to the Moscow-installed governor Mikhail Razvozhayev.
The outage, which he said was necessary to help with an overload on power grids outside of the area and prevent a wider blackout, was scheduled to last for a few hours.
Arpan Rai20 August 2026 05:46
A drone has crashed into Romanian national territory during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, the Romanian defence ministry said this morning.
The drone crashed into an uninhabited area of the Romanian county of Tulcea, the ministry said.
Arpan Rai20 August 2026 05:30
Arpan Rai20 August 2026 05:12
Smoke rises from missiles launched by Russia in Kyiv (AFP/Getty)
Explosion seen in distance in Kyiv after Russia launches ballistic missiles on Ukrainian capital (AFP/Getty)
Trails of smoke seen as missiles hit Kyiv region in early morning attack (AFP/Getty)
Large swathes of Kyiv region seen engulfed in smoke as Russia renews massive aerial barrage on capital city (AFP/Getty)
Arpan Rai20 August 2026 04:40
Poland has launched preventive military aviation operations to protect its airspace amid Russian strikes on Ukraine in the early hours today, the Polish army said in a post on X.
Russia launched ballistic missiles on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in the early hours today, killing at least five people.
Arpan Rai20 August 2026 04:16
At least five people were killed and 23 have been injured in Russian ballistic missiles strikes on Kyiv in the early hours today, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The attack has damaged buildings and left parts of the Ukrainian capital without power. A fire broke out after Russia attacked the upper floors of a nine-story residential building, Klitschko said, and people were trapped in another place as Moscow hit non-residential and apartment facilities, warehouses and a children’s hospital.
A Reuters witness reported hearing more than a dozen explosions.
In the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital, another person was killed, a local official said separately on Telegram.
Arpan Rai20 August 2026 03:53
Ukrainian army sources told The Times that drones made by two British companies have been used in the past six months to attack targets including oil refineries in Volgograd and near Moscow and logistics hubs.
Russia’s embassy to the UK said in a statement on Monday that the reports “confirm that London is deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis” and accused Britain of “seeking to contain Russia and inflict maximum damage on it by proxy”.
Maira Butt20 August 2026 03:00