The night of 20 August was one of the hardest the capital region has seen all summer. The air raid alert in Bucha district began at 23:52 and ran for eight hours and forty-five minutes without a break. In that time seventeen people were killed in Kyiv and one more in the region.
The consequences for the capital and the region were reported by Bucha City Council, the regional figures were released by the head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko, and the breakdown of weapons used came from the Air Force of Ukraine.
How the night began
At 23:51 an air raid alert was declared in Kyiv over the threat of ballistic weapons. A minute later, at 23:52, the siren sounded in Bucha district: Bucha City Council and the Hostomel settlement military administration gave the signal at the same minute.
Five minutes after that, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in the capital. By 01:30 the regional administration was calling it a missile attack outright and asking people to stay in shelters.
The attack came in waves until morning. At 04:46 the Air Force warned of missiles from Cherkasy region heading for Kyiv region, at 04:55 of jet drones towards Brovary and Kyiv, and at 05:30 of missiles from the north and east towards Boryspil.
What was fired
The Air Force counts this attack from 18:00 on 19 August. Against Kyiv region the enemy used missiles that approach their target on a ballistic trajectory — Oniks, Tsirkon, Iskander-M and S-400, launched from the Kursk, Rostov and Bryansk regions.
russia also fired 36 cruise and air-launched missiles — Kh-101, Iskander-K and Kh-59 — eight Kalibr missiles from Novorossiysk, two Banderol loitering munitions and 168 attack drones of the Shahed and Gerbera types along with Parodiya decoys. Almost half of the Shaheds were jet-powered.
«The main direction of the strike is Kyiv region!» the Air Force stressed.
Ukrainian forces shot down every Kalibr missile fired, and the overall interception rate for cruise missiles reached 93%. Ballistic weapons remain the greatest threat.
As of 9:30, air defence shot down or suppressed 186 targets: 31 cruise missiles, eight Kalibrs, two loitering munitions and 145 drones. Impacts were recorded at 28 locations, with debris falling at two more.
Kyiv: seven killed in a single district
Damage was recorded in three districts of the capital — Sviatoshynskyi, Solomianskyi and Darnytskyi. Solomianskyi was hit hardest: seven of the twelve victims died there.
According to the emergency service, the eighth and ninth floors of a residential nine-storey building were destroyed, with fire on the seventh to ninth floors. Windows were blown out in four nearby residential buildings, and falling debris set the top floors of a four-storey building alight.
A school and a children's hospital were also hit. Windows were blown out at the medical facility and cars burned in its grounds. People were trapped in two residential buildings and in the school shelter — rescuers freed them.
In Sviatoshynskyi district warehouses of 500 and 1,000 square metres burned; one person was found dead there and another was pulled from the rubble. In Darnytskyi district fire engulfed warehouses and cars across about a thousand square metres.
In total, 30 residential buildings, a school, a children’s hospital and a kindergarten were damaged in Kyiv and the region.
The death toll in the capital rose through the night. At 00:55 one death and three injuries were known; by 01:15 it was two women killed and six injured; by 7:00 six dead and 33 injured. At 08:30 the emergency service gave the figure of twelve.
Kyiv region: a man killed in Brovary district
In the region, Boryspil and Brovary districts were hit. The regional administration reported the first death at 02:21, while the alert was still running. A 60-year-old man was killed in Brovary district, where an industrial facility was also damaged.
In Boryspil district fourteen private houses, four warehouse buildings, a petrol station, an apartment block and eight cars were damaged. The regional emergency service adds fires at two fuel infrastructure facilities to that list.
According to rescuers, four private homes in the region were destroyed outright and four more damaged, three cars were destroyed and one damaged. Police investigators opened a case under Article 438 of the Criminal Code — violation of the laws and customs of war.
Strikes on logistics: the Fora warehouse burned down
russia attacked the logistics infrastructure of Kyiv region for the fourth time in a day. This was reported by the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service in Kyiv region.
The distribution centre of the Fora retail chain in Martusivka, which stored fresh produce, was hit. All that remained were charred walls and thousands of watermelons under the rescuers' feet.
«The most important thing is that no one was hurt. The team evacuated staff from the distribution centre in advance», — the company said in a statement.
The chain had only started using this warehouse the previous week — after an earlier attack on its logistics.
«They are trying to stop us for the second time in a very short period. But Fora keeps working», — the company said.
In Brovary district crews fought a fire at a fuel infrastructure facility, while at another location rescuers dismantled and doused the structures. In Boryspil district fires burned at three locations, with a fourth already extinguished.
Who fought the fires: 600 people, aircraft and two fire trains
More than 600 emergency service staff and police officers were deployed in Kyiv, Brovary and Boryspil.
Alongside crews from Kyiv and the region, emergency service aviation, local and volunteer fire brigades and the volunteer Shturm team from Boryspil were at work.
Two fire trains of Ukrzaliznytsia were also brought in, together with staff and special vehicles from the fire service of Boryspil airport.
As of 15:34 the regional emergency service confirmed eight injured people in the region and one death.
By 21 August the death toll in Kyiv had risen to 17, with more than 40 people injured.
Seven injured or eight
The official figures for the region differ, and that is not an error but a different cut-off time. The regional administration reported seven injured as of 7:00: six in Boryspil district, four of them hospitalised with shrapnel and lacerated wounds, and one more in Brovary district.
At 9:10 the regional police gave a figure of eight — six in Boryspil district and two in Brovary. The later count added one person.
What the night meant for Bucha district
There were no direct impacts or destruction in Bucha district — as of the morning no local authority had reported any consequences on its territory. But the sleepless night and the wrecked morning timetable were felt by everyone.
The first all-clear came only at 8:37, and by 9:07 the district was under a new alert that lasted until 9:43. That is almost nine hours under the siren, plus another half hour in the morning.
Because of damage to railway infrastructure, Ukrzaliznytsia altered suburban services towards the capital. At 7:37 train No. 6604 Teteriv — Sviatoshyn, which runs through Borodianka, Nemishaieve, Bucha and Irpin, was standing at Bucha station one hour and four minutes behind schedule. At 6:07 its delay had been 29 minutes — it more than doubled in an hour and a half.
At 7:52 train No. 6601 Kyiv — Korosten was running an hour and eight minutes late at the Vorzel halt. The longest delays in Kyiv region reached two hours and 25 minutes.
At 10:00 Ukrenergo confirmed that after the night attack there were customers without power in Kyiv region as well, though it gave no number. DTEK Kyiv Regional Grids, which serves Bucha district, said nothing about the attack.
21 August is a day of mourning
The following day, 21 August, has been declared a day of mourning in Kyiv for those killed. Flags on all municipal buildings will be lowered, and the same was recommended for state and privately owned buildings. All entertainment events are banned in the capital that day.
Over the past day emergency service units across the country made 154 call-outs to deal with the aftermath of shelling and put out 32 fires. In Kyiv region the work was complicated by the alert itself: crews and vehicles had to wait it out in a safe place.
As a reminder, Bucha district came under a night attack earlier in August, when a company warehouse was damaged.
Nota bene
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