Living with non-stop air raids: how Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and Kyiv have adapted to the jet-powered war of 2026

In 2026 the war has been reaching ever deeper into Ukraine, no longer confined to the combat zone. Russia has been striking civilian targets with drones and missiles for nearly five years now.

Since September 2026, following the large-scale emergence of jet-powered Shahed attack drones, attacks on the rear have entered a new phase of escalation. Russian forces regularly strike Ukrainian metals companies, industrial facilities, retailers' warehouses, railway stations, trains, shopping centres, petrol stations and even kindergartens. There are now almost non-stop air-raid warnings in both major cities and the surrounding regions.

As the Ukrainian Air Force looks for ways to counter Russia's jet-powered attacks, people in the country's major cities are learning to live their lives differently, adapting to yet another set of challenges that the Russia-Ukraine war has brought them.

Ukrainska Pravda reached out to fellow journalists at four local media outlets – Odesa-based Intent, Vidbudova Zaporizhzhia (Zaporizhzhia Recovery), Kharkiv-based Gwara Media and Dnipro.media – to compare notes and learn about how Ukraine's major cities are coping amid constant air raids.

No cities in Ukraine's west are included in this overview because they are further away from the front line and experience fewer air-raid warnings – and long may that remain the case. Cities located too close to Russian forces, including Kherson and Sumy, have also been left out.

In this article, we look at what life is like for people in Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Kyiv these days, how everyday life has changed, what new inconveniences have emerged, and how residents, local authorities and businesses are adapting to the new challenges of the war.

Odesa

We propose to tell this story from south to north, with Odesa our first stop. On 18 September 2026, Odesa had 20 air-raid warnings in just one day – an all-time record for the city since the full-scale war began.

The constant attacks and strikes have not brought life in Odesa to a halt. The city has much to endure, but there has been no mass closure of businesses. Entrepreneurs have adapted to the ever-present danger, although they continue to suffer financial losses caused by damage to their premises and consequent repairs, forced downtime, and expenditure on generators, batteries and backup internet connections. There have even been cases where businesses near the site of a strike have reopened immediately after the clean-up, provided the premises were still fit for use.

Large shopping centres and retail chains in Odesa generally have formal emergency protocols in place. Increasingly, however, their response will depend on the type of threat. Missile threats prompt a more serious response, with businesses suspending operations, but not all shops close completely when the threat is of a drone attack. Large centres use car parks or other premises as shelters, while small businesses rely on the nearest municipal shelters and often ignore air-raid warnings.

The regular attacks have not stopped people from going shopping in stores and shopping centres, although they are making more use of delivery services. Some supermarkets and other businesses, such as Metro and McDonald's, close when an alert is issued, but the ATB food retail chain remains open.

With air-raid warnings now a constant in our lives, another question that arises is how to keep children safe at school. Schools in Odesa are trying to keep in-person learning going as much as possible, but the constant interruptions disrupt timetables: the children have to move to shelters and then go back to their classrooms, and when there are several alerts in a single day, the teachers' plans are effectively derailed. In a small number of schools, lessons continue inside the shelters; others switch to remote learning.

The city suffers from a shortage of public transport, but services continue to run when the sirens sound. They can, however, be disrupted by strikes, road closures, damage to overhead power lines or power cuts. Privately-owned buses are the most flexible means of transport in such situations and often continue operating, while municipal trams and trolleybuses are more dependent on centralised decisions and the state of the power grid. Air-raid alerts also cause frequent delays to intercity buses and trains arriving in or departing from Odesa.

As for petrol stations, there is no single citywide rule requiring them either to close completely or switch to self-service when an alert is issued. Over the past month, however, more and more petrol stations in Odesa have started closing when air-raid warnings are in place.

Air-raid sirens have become part of everyday life in the city, sounding dozens of times a day, particularly when there are waves of drone attacks. Overall, Odesa is at constant risk of strikes by drones, missiles, ballistic missiles, and more recently guided aerial bombs as well. As a result, residents are increasingly assessing the level of risk for themselves and tend to take the threat of ballistic missiles more seriously than, for example, a prolonged alert prompted by UAVs.

The number of shelters in Odesa has increased, including mobile shelters, but access remains uneven across different parts of the city. Some people regularly go down to shelters, while others have grown accustomed to the danger and are ignoring air-raid warnings more and more often.

There is currently no mass exodus from Odesa comparable to the one seen in spring 2022, although some families temporarily leave for western regions of Ukraine or go abroad after particularly severe attacks.

Employers, meanwhile, have become much more tolerant of employees arriving late because of prolonged alerts, overnight attacks, transport issues or power cuts. Where possible, they use hybrid working arrangements, adjust schedules, or simply take into account that part of the working day may have to be spent in a shelter.

Odesa's cultural life is alive and well, with concerts, theatre performances, festivals, talks and other events still taking place. Event organisers are now required to have a plan of action in case of an air-raid warning: pausing the event, evacuating people to a shelter, postponing it, or resuming once the all-clear has been given.

Even Odesa's nightlife has survived, especially in the Arcadia resort and the city centre, where hundreds of tourists and locals can still be seen out in the evenings. These activities are now, however, constrained by the curfew and the continuing risk of attacks.

Zaporizhzhia

Unlike Odesa, Zaporizhzhia is a frontline city. As such, it faces an onslaught from the full range of Russian weaponry.

Residents say they have been particularly affected by the recent wave of attacks on shopping centres. The Russians have destroyed all the Epicentr home improvement stores, most of the Amstor supermarkets, and the largest shopping centre, City Mall. This leaves only a handful of large shopping centres in the city.

The destruction of the shopping centres also means that local businesses lose the premises where they used to operate – shops selling branded clothing, handmade items, mobile phone accessories, electronics, furniture, jewellery and many other products.

Overall, the situation regarding shopping centres in the city is challenging: the Russians have destroyed almost all the major ones. Those that remain appear to be open, but some of the shops have either closed or moved to other locations. Smaller neighbourhood shopping centres are faring better and are still open.

People in Zaporizhzhia are making more use of delivery services – and not only because the places where they used to shop nearby may have been destroyed, but also out of a reluctance to make unnecessary trips to shopping centres that could be targeted by Russian attacks.

But the most significant long-term impact – which also has a knock-on effect on small businesses – has been caused by Russia's attacks on large industrial companies. For example, in September the Zaporizhstal steelworks suspended operations following a series of missile strikes. Since the plant is one of the city's main employers, this has had a huge impact on both residents' incomes and the local budget's revenue from personal income tax.

Almost all of the city's 92 schools use a hybrid learning model, meaning students attend school in person periodically.

The city also has 10 "underground schools" – shelters equipped for people to spend several hours in relative comfort, where lessons can be held and students can take breaks. Two such schools were completed in early autumn, with another two due to be completed by the end of the year. The most important thing is that lessons in these underground schools can continue uninterrupted despite the air-raid alerts.

Public transport in Zaporizhzhia is increasingly coming under attack from FPV drones, which target both municipal buses and privately operated minibuses. Municipal transport was attacked by drones at least twice in September.

The situation in the Kushuhum hromada , located between Zaporizhzhia and the line of contact, is indicative of this. In early summer, as Russian FPV drones began penetrating further into the region, minibuses started being fitted with anti-drone protection in the form of metal cages. By the end of the summer, even the protected minibuses had stopped serving the southern parts of the hromada closest to the front line.

The situation with rail travel is even more difficult: passengers almost always have to take a bus to Dnipro and catch a train from there.

Petrol stations in Zaporizhzhia continue to stay open, with no queues or fuel shortages. Following a series of attacks on petrol stations over the summer, many are now protected with netting and gabions.

Mobile and internet connections in the city have so far remained available. During prolonged power cuts, mobile internet can become unreliable, and fixed internet connections that do not use fibre-optic cables may stop working. Nevertheless, some form of connection remains available at all times.

Adapting the healthcare system to the new reality of life under constant attack appears to be one of Zaporizhzhia's priorities. The city authorities regularly report on renovated shelters, backup power supplies and stockpiles, although more in the context of preparing for a hard winter than the security situation. Overall, healthcare can be said to be operating as normal. In addition to the public hospitals, there are several large private medical facilities, meaning that medical care remains accessible.

Air-raid warnings are in effect almost all the time. The city authorities recently created a distinction between oblast-wide and city-specific alerts, adding a separate warning for guided aerial bombs.

There are several threat levels. FPV drones usually strike seemingly random targets – cars, apartment blocks, public transport. Several such drones have already effectively reached the city centre and hit buses waiting at junctions. The Zaporizhzhia Oblast State Administration building has also been attacked several times.

Shahed drones are primarily used to target factories or energy infrastructure. Residential areas are also affected by them.

During the summer, the city was regularly hit by four or five guided aerial bombs as many as three times a day. Such strikes are now rare.

The use of missiles against Zaporizhzhia is relatively infrequent, with most attacks involving ballistic missiles targeting factories or Kalibr cruise missiles.

Despite its frontline status, the city hosts many small cultural events organised by individual venues and arts centres. Zaporizhzhia celebrated City Day on 3 October, and more than 10 fairs and other events were held at various venues to mark the occasion, some of which attracted large crowds.

Well-known performers come to Zaporizhzhia to give concerts, and there are comedy shows by both local stand-up comedians and household names.

Several cinemas, theatres, the philharmonic and many other venues are still open and can get quite busy, particularly at weekends.

Kharkiv

Like Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv is a frontline city. In the first half of 2026, 589 new companies were registered in Kharkiv Oblast, indicating that the market is gradually adapting. Factories continue to operate to some extent. The IT industry largely operates remotely and companies do not open offices in the city.

Shopping centres stay open when the sirens sound, although some individual shops close, mostly those belonging to large chains. In one shopping centre, some shops even rent space in the car park, which is designated as a shelter.

Schools without certified shelters are closed. Children in Kharkiv study either online or at metro schools and underground schools. According to Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, 52% of the city's schoolchildren will be able to study in a blended format during the 2026-2027 academic year, combining in-person and remote learning.

Public transport is free and does not stop during air-raid alerts. The downside is that passengers sometimes have to wait more than 7-10 minutes for a train on the metro, compared with, for example, 2-5 minutes in Kyiv.

At the Kharkiv Oblast Clinical Hospital, an underground hospital connected to the main building is being built. Medical facilities are equipped with shelters, generators and backup power supplies. When there were power cuts across the city, hospitals, as critical infrastructure, continued to be supplied with electricity.

The healthcare system becomes overwhelmed in the aftermath of attacks, as the number of casualties is often high. Doctors therefore have to prioritise operations, postponing scheduled procedures in order to save critically injured patients. Seriously injured people from all over the oblast are often taken to the regional hospital in Kharkiv, which has greater capacity to treat them.

Hospitals also admit wounded military personnel from the front line, and this places medical staff under further strain.

On average, around 10 air-raid warnings are issued in the city every day, with an average duration of almost an hour and a half. On 30 September, for example, an air-raid alert in Kharkiv remained in effect for 10 hours.

The Russians' most frequent target is civilian infrastructure, with petrol stations among the sites increasingly hit in recent attacks. People rarely go to shelters. Even during an attack, life largely goes on as normal in the streets, unless the strike occurs very close by.

Concerts, performances and other events are permitted in designated safe spaces. Some independent theatres, NGOs and activists may hold events at ordinary venues, provided they ensure the audience or visitors have access to a shelter. In practice, however, shelters are rarely used, and events generally continue uninterrupted when the sirens sound.

Restaurants, cafés and other venues in Kharkiv stay open in the evenings until around 20:00-22:00, while most shops close at around 21:00-22:00, with some staying open until 23:00.

Dnipro

On the way back to the capital on our virtual journey, we arrive in Dnipro, a major city that has learned to keep going amid ballistic missile threats and daily warnings of attacks. And although alerts have become far more frequent – in September 2026, for instance, they were issued five times as often as in September 2025 – the city has not ground to a halt.

Large businesses and shopping centres have been forced to adapt in the wake of strikes. Some shopping centres close completely whenever there is any threat, while others base their response on the level of danger. People often ignore the alerts, however, and simply wait outside the doors.

Strikes on metals plants and the Interpipe industrial site have posed particular challenges for the city.

Mobile service providers and postal services suspend operations whenever an alert is issued, disrupting business logistics. Despite the attacks, privately operated buses and municipal public transport continue to operate, while the metro serves as a free shelter. Railways remain the most vulnerable, with many trains cancelled or delayed. The situation is further complicated by the fact that mobile and GPS signals are jammed when the threat is high (so that electronic warfare can function properly), turning journeys across the city into something of a blind navigation exercise.

Education and healthcare in Dnipro have also shifted into emergency mode. Officially children attend school in person, but in practice they spend several hours a day in noisy basements, prompting parents to complain of a dramatic decline in educational standards.

Hospitals try to keep going without interruption. Public hospitals cancel appointments only when the threat level is classified as red [indicating missiles or large-scale drone attacks – ed.], while private clinics often stay open during air-raid alerts, sometimes requiring patients to sign waivers releasing them from liability.

Safety remains the biggest problem, as there is a critical shortage of shelters close to people's homes and workplaces, and mobile concrete shelters often end up turning into rubbish dumps because of poor sanitary conditions. As a result, most residents rely on the two-wall rule and only rush to seek shelter when there is a ballistic missile threat or explosions can be heard. 

Despite people's exhaustion and constant stress, there has been no mass exodus from Dnipro: leaving is expensive, and people fear losing their jobs. Instead, the city has become a hub for displaced people from frontline areas.

Even cultural life has endured. Theatres are still open, pausing performances when audiences need to move down to shelters. The famous House of Organ and Chamber Music has been closed since it was damaged by a Russian attack, but concerts are held at other venues or simply in the metro.

Kyiv

Our final stop is Ukraine's capital. Kyiv has long been subjected to regular Shahed drone and missile attacks, but from September onwards, the situation has become considerably more difficult.

In September 2026, not a single day in the capital went by without air-raid warnings. Alerts were in place for a total of 242 hours and 40 minutes – that's 33.7% of the month. In effect, Kyiv residents spent a third of September under the threat of attack.

The authorities did not immediately respond to the relentless air attacks. On 10 September, the Kyiv Defence Council shortened the curfew, which now runs from 01:00 to 05:00.

Nevertheless, the city did introduce a more flexible system for operating under a yellow threat level, allowing public institutions and administrative service centres to continue providing services when there is no direct missile or drone threat. However, given that a jet-powered UAV can cross the entire city in eight minutes, it's hard to describe any situation as genuinely risk-free.

Most business losses are now caused by strikes on warehouses and disruptions to logistics, including bridge closures and the return of power cuts.

Recent decisions by the city authorities allow businesses to operate more flexibly when the threat level is relatively low. During large-scale drone or ballistic missile attacks, however, all major shopping centres close and ask shoppers to go to shelters.

Shopping centres have not extended their opening hours despite the shorter curfew.

The capital's schools teach mainly in person or in a blended format. School shelters have been prepared, but frequent alerts throughout the school day force children to spend hours in basements, disrupting lessons. The Kyiv City State Administration's Department of Education has already recommended that schools have an autumn half-term break from 26 October to 1 November, although each school may adjust these dates depending on the security situation in its area.

The quality of education depends on how well individual schools are prepared to organise the learning process. For example, one school in the Solomianskyi district has three semi-basement spaces. All lessons are held, but they are only 35 minutes long [rather than 40-45 – ed.]. Students in grades 1-5 (primary school) and 10-11 (high school) attend in person, while the others (middle school) study online.

Schools without shelters, however, have had to switch to remote learning. Kyiv residents are often forced to move to other cities for the sake of their children's education, as the constant air raids make regular school attendance in the capital extremely difficult.

Shahed drone attacks have significantly affected transport links between the right and left banks of the capital. In early September, the government made an attempt to keep the overground section of the metro's green line running even when an alert was in effect; previously, trains had only run on the underground section.

But the initiative ended in failure after the first drone attacks on the Pivdennyi (South) Bridge, when a Shahed narrowly missed a metro train.

Since the beginning of October, Kyiv has made major changes to how traffic on its bridges is managed when an alert is in effect:

• Pivdennyi (South) Bridge: traffic from the right bank to the left bank is restricted for 15 minutes after an air-raid alert is issued, but there are no restrictions on left bank-right bank traffic.
• Podilsko-Voskresenskyi Bridge: after an air-raid warning is issued, traffic from the left bank to the right bank is temporarily suspended for 15 minutes.
• Pivnichnyi (North) Bridge, Darnytskyi Bridge, Paton Bridge and Metro Bridge: no restrictions on traffic during air-raid warnings.

The result is that Kyiv is paralysed during alerts, as the transport links between the two banks are disrupted. Overground public transport still stops during alerts, although the shorter curfew means public transport now runs for an hour longer in the evening.

Kyiv managed to avoid strict rolling power outages throughout September and early October, but on 6-7 October the capital and the surrounding region once again returned to scheduled stabilisation and emergency power cuts.

For safety reasons, petrol stations stop serving customers as soon as an alert is issued.

With the return of scheduled power cuts in October, mobile internet connections in some areas have once again begun to deteriorate, as Russian forces have been actively targeting Kyiv's data centres.

Postal operators also close branches when the sirens sound.

Under a Kyiv Defence Council decision of 10 September, medical facilities and hospitals now operate under updated protocols. They continue to provide services during a yellow threat level, but when there is a direct threat, staff and patients must move to shelters. Hospitals are equipped with generators – vital now that power cuts have returned – and try to avoid cancelling scheduled operations except during large-scale missile attacks.

Kyiv residents take shelter in underground car parks, basements and the metro, which is open to shelter in around the clock. People in Kyiv have begun responding to air-raid alerts more frequently since the October strikes on infrastructure, although the two-wall rule remains the most common form of protection. The city authorities have promised to install mobile shelters.

The main change is that Ukraine's major cities are no longer experiencing "war lite". Life hasn't stopped, but it has been transformed into a harsh, pragmatic mode of survival in which flexibility, self-sufficiency and willingness to work underground have become the defining rules of the new reality.

Analysis and reporting by Volodymyr Fomichov, Ukrainska Pravda.

The following media outlets contributed to the preparation of this article: Intent, Vidbudova Zaporizhzhia, Gwara Media and Dnipro.media.

Translated by Myroslava Zavadska

Edited by Teresa Pearce