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The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]
Russia’s war against Ukraine
Fires blaze in Kyiv after a Russian drone and missile attack overnight on Sept. 8, 2026. (State Emergency Service / Telegram)
Russia pounds Kyiv in overnight attack, killing 2, injuring 10, as brief truce ends in missile fire. The attack has killed at least two people and injured 10 others, according to local officials. The strike signals a definitive end to Kyiv’s brief respite while hosting U.S. envoys.
Kremlin doesn’t rule out restarting three-way peace talks with Ukraine, US. The statement comes after U.S. envoy Jared Kushner said Washington hopes to resume negotiations in a trilateral format.
Putin may seek to give Trump diplomatic win before US midterms, Zelensky says. “My feeling (is) that Putin needs Trump,” Zelensky told Axios, adding that the Russian leader does not want to upset the U.S. president.
Units of Russian missile brigade equipped with Oreshniks deployed in Belarus, Ukraine’s military intelligence says. The Oreshnik is a missile believed to be a modified version of the Rubezh surface-to-surface missile.
Ukrainian drone blitz hits 3 Russian oil refineries, Zelensky confirms. Ukrainian drones also struck a launch and storage site for strike drones in Russia’s Kursk Oblast and “a target” in the Black Sea, he added without providing further details.
Ukrainian drones ignite blaze at Russia’s Saratov Oil Refinery, locals report. The Rosneft-owned Saratov refinery is a major oil-processing facility that has been targeted by Ukrainian forces in multiple previous strikes.
Ukraine claims strikes on railway bridge and Russian aircraft in Russian-occupied Crimea. Ukraine struck several targets across occupied Crimea overnight, targeting logistics and a Russian aircraft
Russian drones fly toward Kyiv amid temporary attack pause on capitals. A brief drone air raid alert was declared in Kyiv as monitoring channels reported Russian drones moving in the direction of the capital.
Russia has enough resources to wage war through 2028, Ukraine’s military intelligence says. Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Oleh Ivashchenko said Ukrainian strikes are contributing to Russia’s budget deficit, “which today stands at $82 billion.”
Read our exclusives
Exclusive: Trump envoys find Putin still unwilling to budge on Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin remains committed to escalating his war against Ukraine despite a new U.S. push to revive peace talks, people familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Independent following U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys’ visits to Moscow and Kyiv.
Photo: Mikhail Metzel/Pool/AFP
Can women solve Ukraine’s manpower problem?
Conditions for women in the Ukrainian military remain challenging — from a lack of properly fitted equipment to unwelcoming and, at times, dangerous attitudes from male colleagues. Nonetheless, recent comments from prominent figures have revived the debate over mobilizing women.
Photo: Oksana Parafeniuk/Washington Post
Human cost of war
Russian attacks kill at least 3, injure 38 across Ukraine, day after Witkoff, Kushner visit Kyiv for renewed peace push. The Air Force reported that Russian forces launched 92 attack drones against Ukraine overnight, of which 71 were shot down or intercepted.
General Staff: Russia has lost 1,497,980 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. The figure includes 1,540 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
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International response
Russia, North Korea open first cross-border road bridge as partnership deepens. The one-kilometer bridge crosses the Tumen River, connecting Khasan in Russia’s far-eastern Primorsky Krai with North Korea’s Tumangang.
NATO jets scrambled multiple times over Baltic region in one week. NATO fighter jets were scrambled three times between Aug. 31 and Sept. 6 in response to Russian military aircraft operating near the Baltic states, according to data from Lithuania’s Defense Ministry.
Russia to close German consulate in St. Petersburg amid Leipzig drone attack dispute. The step comes after Germany accused Russia of an attempted drone attack at Leipzig Airport in early August and said it was closing the Russian consulate in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin.
France cannot finance Ukraine ‘without anything in return,’ far-right leader says. RN co-leader Jordan Bardella nevertheless did not advocate for “abandoning” Ukraine completely, noting that France should help Kyiv defend its territorial integrity.
Opinions and insights
The drone war is becoming a race to adapt, rather than perfect
“What relatively few onlookers outside of Ukraine recognize is the way in which every drone innovation on one side of the conflict has prompted innovation on the other,” writes Robert Brull, CEO of German company FibreCoat.
Photo: Dmytro Smolienko / Ukrinform / NurPhoto via Getty Images
In other news
Ukraine’s prosecutor general resigns amid major corruption scandal. Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said on Sept. 7 that he had submitted his resignation.
Meet the Kyiv Independent in London
Join editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko, CEO Daryna Shevchenko, Francis Farrell, and other team members for an evening of live storytelling in London at Kings Place on Oct. 2.
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