Russian attacks disrupt schooling and services in Kyiv

Repeated Russian attacks are disrupting schooling and essential services in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, DW reported on October 23. Shelter shortages are sending residents into subway stations overnight, while attacks have interrupted transport, electricity and supermarket supplies.

Until a few months earlier, Kyiv had been relatively peaceful compared with areas near Ukraine’s front lines, DW said. The city’s military administration reported that 140 people were killed in the capital during January–August 2026.

Shelter space determines access to classrooms

Kyiv has too few shelters for its 4 million residents, according to DW. From about 10 p.m., people turn subway stations into sleeping spaces with mattresses and small tents. Families spend the night there with children and pets.

School attendance depends on shelter capacity and how long air-raid alerts last, not just on decisions by parents and school administrators. If an alert begins while children are still at home in the morning, they may be unable to attend that day. A parent working in DW’s Kyiv bureau described having to go to work while her child stayed home alone.

Principal Valentyna Chorna told DW that her school’s shelter can accommodate more than 500 students, allowing pupils in grades one through nine to attend in person. A drone struck the school building in early October, but pupils and teachers were already in shelters.

Food supplies, power and transport are disrupted

Attacks on warehouses have caused supermarket shortages on a scale not seen since the war’s early months, DW reported. Emergency power cuts resumed at the end of September, and a Russian attack brought the subway to a halt.