Russia just bombed Kyiv again and hit paramedics answering the call
2 hours ago · 26 October 2026Share
A Russian missile strike damaged an Orthodox church in the Tatarka district of Kyiv on 21 March 2024. File photo. Rasal Hague · CC BY 4.0
Russian ballistic missiles have just hit Kyiv.
Sirens went off. Minutes later, explosions tore through the Podilskyi and Obolon districts. Kyiv's Air Force had just warned that missiles launched from Russia's Bryansk region were heading straight for the capital.
Another explosion hit near a metro station in the Desnyanskyi district.
And here's the part that stings. A team of paramedics was out answering a call when the missiles hit. They came under fire themselves.
Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv's mayor, says paramedics came under missile fire as the strikes hit Kyiv.
At least one person is dead, reportedly near a supermarket in the Dniprovskyi district. Five more are wounded, including the paramedic and an emergency medical technician from that same ambulance crew. Their injuries are not critical.
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Destruction in Kyiv's Podilskyi District after Russian shelling on 18 March 2022, which damaged six residential buildings, a kindergarten and a school. File photo. Oleksiy Samsonov / Kyiv City State Administration · CC BY 4.0
A hospital's intensive care unit in the Dniprovskyi district had its windows blown out. Nobody there was hurt. A residential building in the Desnianskyi district was also hit, and there are preliminary reports that people may be trapped inside.
Reuters witnesses say explosions jolted the whole city, and power is out across districts on the east side of the Dnipro River.
One outlet says a metro station called Lisova was damaged. That still needs official confirmation. Another report says monitoring groups believe 8 to 12 ballistic missiles came from three launchers. That's a single source, and nobody else has confirmed it.
The wounded count is still coming in. Russia has said nothing. Ukraine's military says its air defences responded.
That's everything we know.
Why this matters
So why does a strike near a metro station matter so much?
Because that's where Kyiv goes to survive. When Russia attacks, residents run down into the stations. They're shelters, not just transport.
So a missile landing near one, during an actual air raid alert, is landing near the exact place people go to be safe.
And this isn't a one-off.
This is the third major ballistic missile attack on Kyiv this month. Five people were killed and 25 wounded on the night of 13 to 14 October. Then at least one person was killed and 24 wounded overnight on 22 October, in a strike that also used cluster munitions.
Russia hasn't explained why it keeps hitting the same city with the same weapon. But three strikes in one month isn't bad luck. It's a pattern.
Russia regularly hits civilian infrastructure across Ukraine's cities. This time, nobody has confirmed whether energy infrastructure was the target, the way it was on 13 to 14 October and again on 22 October. No outlet has named a specific energy site hit tonight.
Here's why the paramedics matter so much.
Ballistic missiles give almost no warning. Ukraine's Air Force had only minutes to alert people before impact. That's why an ambulance crew was still out on the road when the missiles came down.
A rescue team getting hit while answering a call for help is what makes tonight different from an ordinary night of bombing.
Ukraine's military says its air defences are still working to stop these attacks. Nobody has said yet whether any missiles were intercepted tonight.
Russia still hasn't said a word. And Kyiv's mayor is still updating the numbers as the night goes on.
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