KYIV — Russia launched overnight a barrage of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, officials said on Monday, as children prepared to return to school across the country after their summer vacation and some found classes canceled due to damage from the attack.

Several series of explosions rocked Ukraine's capital in the early hours. Debris from intercepted missiles and drones fell in every district of the city, injuring three people and damaging two kindergartens, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said. City authorities reported multiple fires.

After more than 900 days of war, the two sides show no sign of letting up in the fight or moving closer to the negotiating table. The two sides are pursuing ambitious ground offensives, with the Ukrainians driving into Russia's western Kursk region and the Russian army pushing deeper into Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, part of the industrial Donbas region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Ukraine's Kursk incursion would not prevent his forces from advancing in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv's forces have not achieved their goal of diverting Russian troops from the fighting there, he added.

"The main task that the enemy set for themselves — to stop our offensive in Donbas — they haven't achieved it," Putin told students during a trip to southern Siberia.

He predicted that the Kursk offensive would fail and Kyiv officials would want "to move to peace talks."

Overnight barrage

Russia launched 35 missiles of various types and 26 Shahed drones at Ukraine from Sunday night into Monday, the Ukrainian air force said. Nine ballistic missiles, 13 cruise missiles and 20 drones were downed, it added.

On Monday morning, small groups of children and their parents gathered outside a damaged school in Kyiv as firefighters put out the flames and removed rubble.

One 39-year-old mother turned up at the school with her 7-year-old daughter Sophia, unaware it had been hit. It was Sophia's first day at what for her was a new school, her mother said, after a frightening night.

"Of course, the child was scared. We hid in the bathroom, where it was relatively safe," said the mother, who identified herself by her first name, Olena.

"Today is one of the most important days of the year for millions of our Ukrainian children, families and teachers," Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel.

"Ukraine is doing everything to give children as many opportunities as possible. And all our schools, all higher education institutions that are working today are proof of the resilience of our people and the strength of Ukraine," he added.

Both sides are battering each other with regular long-range drone and missile strikes, sometimes launching more than 100 weapons in aerial attacks that suggest they are still pouring resources into weapon production.

Russian air defenses intercepted 158 Ukrainian drones over the weekend, including two over Moscow and nine over the surrounding region, the Defense Ministry said.

Elsewhere, 18 people were injured in a Sunday evening strike on a center for social and psychological rehabilitation of children and an orphanage in Ukraine's northeastern city of Sumy, regional authorities said.

The regional prosecutor's office said there were no children in the facility when the strike happened, but people in surrounding residential buildings suffered injuries, including six children.

The educational center was partially destroyed and caught fire, and the buildings around it were damaged by the strike, State Emergency Services said.

Read The Rest at :