Smoke rises in the city during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine 8 September 2026; Credit: Reuters/Gleb Garanich

(Reuters) - Russia pummelled Kyiv with drones and missiles early on Tuesday 8 September 2026, resuming its air attacks after a brief halt for the visit of US peace negotiators, killing two people and triggering fires across the Ukrainian capital.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said ten more had been injured in the city, while falling debris in one district caused fires at a five-storey apartment building and a three-storey residential block.

The attack damaged at least fourteen high-rise buildings, a dorm, a school, a clinic, warehouses and other sites, officials said.

Brief respite in attacks

Russia resumed its attacks after US peace envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff left Kyiv following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday 6 September 2026, as the Trump administration renewed its push to end Russia's four-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine.

They arrived from talks in Moscow, after which the Kremlin said it did not rule out the resumption of the three-way negotiations. 

"The moment the US president's peace envoys left, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin launched another massive, horrific attack against Kyiv," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.

"His ballistic missiles speak louder than his words on diplomacy," Sybiha said, urging allies to ramp up pressure on Moscow, as well as to provide interceptors to down ballistic missiles, since Kyiv's stocks of these are critically low.

Prior to the talks, Russia stepped up air attacks on Kyiv and nearby areas to nearly round-the-clock for several days, rather than mainly at night, using faster jet-propelled drones that killed residents and disrupted activities.

The Russian defence ministry said Moscow hit military and logistical targets in Kyiv and the surrounding region, as well as in the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk, Russian newswires said.

Poland activates aircraft

Amid explosions heard in Kyiv, neighbouring Poland, a NATO and European Union member, launched preventive operations against Russian missile attacks on Ukraine, the Polish army said.

Poland's Lublin airport has temporarily suspended flights because of the military operations. 

In Russia, Ukrainian drones damaged civilian infrastructure and injured people in the Volga river city of Saratov, some 730 km southeast of Moscow, the regional governor said. 

The area is home to a large oil refinery run by state oil company Rosneft, as well as other industrial and military facilities.