Subway workers repair tracks damaged in a Russian attack in kyiv, Ukraine, on October 19, 2026. (Chris Occhicone/The Kyiv Independent)Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated. At least one person was killed and eight others were injured after multiple waves of Russian missiles hit kyiv overnight on October 19. Several explosions rocked the capital just before 11 p.m., with new attacks around 3 a.m. and 7 a.m., independent kyiv journalists on the ground reported. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (DSNS) said damage was reported in at least three districts. One person died in Desnianskyi district, where a non-residential building caught fire and a metro station was damaged, DSNS said. kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko previously reported that the death was that of a 21-year-old woman. The Chernihivska and Lisova surface metro stations were temporarily closed for repairs, city officials said. Five people were injured in the Solomianskyi district when a 25-story residential building was damaged, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. It is not yet clear where the other injuries occurred. The Cosmo Multimall shopping and entertainment center suffered significant damage in the Solomianskyi district. Its management said no employees were injured and the mall was working to resume operations as soon as possible. The center did not disclose the extent of the damage or provide a timeline for repairs. Serhii Misan, 68, a local resident, had planned to pick up his new refrigerator from Cosmo Multimall on the morning of October 19. “I paid for a refrigerator yesterday and they told me I could pick it up today,” Misan said. “And now look what’s going on here.” “(The Russians) are terrorists. They attack civilian targets. They spare no one: not the children, not the team, no one. They just kill civilians.” resist Russia without a strong partner like the United States. “If aid is reduced, it will be very difficult to confront an aggressor like Russia,” he said. “We are not trying to take over their land. We are trying to defend our right to live freely on our own land.” Sofia Kelli, 18, who lives in the Solomianskyi district, told The Kyiv Independent that her apartment was also damaged in the Russian attack on the capital. His family was only able to take shelter in an underground parking lot after the attack began, as there was very little time between the air raid warning and the attacks. “It was a huge shock. It was extremely loud, nothing like the other explosions we’ve heard in our neighborhood,” Kelli said. “I couldn’t fall asleep afterwards. Then I sat in the bathroom and cried for a long time. It’s hard to process everything that happened because you always think something like this won’t happen to you. And then it happens.” “They [Russians] attack civilian targets. They [Russians] Let’s not forgive anyone: not the children, not the team, not anyone. They [Russians] just killing civilians.” Kelli said he intends to stay in kyiv despite the latest attack and is preparing for the coming winter. “Everything depends on electricity. Of course it is difficult, but we are doing the best we can. “We have installed solar panels (on the building) and a generator to keep the elevators running,” he added. Klitschko also reported damage to a medical center in the same district. The blast wave shattered more than 200 windows, damaged doors and roofs, and damaged medical equipment, he said. No medical center staff were injured and there were no patients inside the facility at the time of the attack. The Cosmo Multimall shopping and entertainment center was damaged in a Russian attack in kyiv’s Solomianskyi district. on October 19, 2026. (Chris Occhicone/The Kyiv Independent) The Russian attack also destroyed a data center operated by telecommunications company Datagroup, which provides electronic communications services to users in more than 90 settlements in Ukraine. The company said the facility’s equipment and infrastructure had been damaged beyond repair. No employees were injured in the attack. Russian attacks also hit settlements in kyiv Oblast surrounding the capital, at Irpin, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest. kyiv, one woman was killed and 19 people were injured, including nine children. At around 9 a.m. local time, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the kyiv Regional Military Administration, said three people were missing, adding that the Russian strikes damaged 70 houses, five apartment buildings, industrial facilities and warehouses in Irpin, according to Tkachenko. used to track Russian missile launches. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on the morning of October 19 that Russian forces had attacked Ukraine with ballistic missiles, adding that kyiv had not received any prior warning from its partners about the launches. According to Zelensky, Russia fired 16 ballistic missiles, with kyiv and the surrounding region being the main targets. Unfortunately, a denial of reality by our partners,” Zelensky wrote in Images Ukraine via Getty Images)Yurii Ihnat, head of the communications department of the Ukrainian Air Force, said on national television that Russia launched two waves of ballistic missile attacks during the night of October 19, around 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. local time. Ukraine did not receive any advance warning from its partners before the first wave, but information was provided about the second wave, Ihnat said. He added that a similar situation had occurred during previous attacks, including the one. on the night of October 14. “In fact, information was not provided the first time, for certain reasons. Our experts are investigating this together with our partners, as this is not the first time such a situation has occurred. The information was provided at 3 a.m.,” Ihnat said. “The ‘warning’ about a ballistic threat came only after the attack had already occurred.” Commenting on claims by Ukrainian officials that partners had not given advance warning about Russia’s ballistic missile launches overnight, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on the morning of October 19 that he “didn’t know exactly” what had happened. “I know that a few nights ago there was a software problem involving the (Ukrainian) early warning system,” Rubio said: “I know that EUCOM (U.S. European Command) had been involved in the investigation, and that’s the report they gave us. “Alerts were sounded before the night attacks, although the warnings were unusually brief. The first explosions were simultaneous with the sound of air raid sirens, according to Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground. Telephone alerts went off moments before the explosions, while street sirens began “howling during the explosions,” editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko reported. A senior Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent that the first night wave followed a pattern similar. “The ‘warning’ about a ballistic threat came only after the attack had already occurred,” the official said. “They are up to something again.” It may be common for Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles to hit with very little warning. The attack came just hours after Zelensky said the United States had resumed intelligence sharing with Ukraine about Russian missile launches. October 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Oleksii Filippov/AFP via Getty Images) The president’s announcement came as a relief, after kyiv suffered “massive explosions” on October 12, when five Russian S-400 missiles attacked the Ukrainian capital. Air raid sirens and mobile alerts sounded only after the attack. launch sites may be vulnerable to transmission delays. Bad weather can also cause interference with Space Infrared System (SBIRS) satellites, a surveillance network that US forces use to monitor Russian launch sites, but the senior official who spoke to the Kyiv Independent said that although bad weather had affected warnings before, this number of attacks with little or no warning “has never happened before.” nothing to any channel… well, we understand.”
