MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For the last week, Ukrainians in and around the country's capital, Kyiv, have been living through constant air raid sirens. Russia is sending wave after wave of jet-powered drones that are hitting warehouses, factories and apartment buildings every day. NPR's Joanna Kakissis is in Kyiv, and she's going to tell us more about what it's like there. Good morning, Joanna.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So just tell us what it's like.
KAKISSIS: Well, so I just got back to Kyiv after some time off, and, you know, I'm rattled by hearing air raid sirens and alerts, like, all the time, not just at night, which is what we're used to. Your stress level just shoots through the roof, knowing that, like, you know, swarms of these jet-powered drones are constantly headed your way. And, you know, Michel, this has been happening here for eight days.
And in just the last day alone, more than a dozen people have been injured. Russia struck an apartment building in Kyiv and also a Coca-Cola production site in a Kyiv suburb. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy brought up the Coca-Cola plant in his evening video address.
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PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: He said the Kremlin considers Coca-Cola an enemy and that the strike on an American company is a signal. Now, Zelenskyy has been trying to turn the Trump administration's attention back to Ukraine, knowing the White House is occupied by the U.S. war on Iran.
MARTIN: What are you hearing from Ukrainians?
KAKISSIS: Well, you know, many are already aware that Ukraine is short on air defense weapons that shoot down Russian missiles. The jet-powered drones Russia is now launching are just as fast as some missiles. In a village near the Coca-Cola plant, we spoke to Oksana Semynog (ph). She's 42 and a food scientist. And she said she was jolted by this daytime explosion at the plant and that Russia's jet-powered drones make her feel much more vulnerable.
OKSANA SEMYNOG: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Now, she's saying the drones fly low, and there are so many of them. She sees around 40 of them a day, and she has no idea where they're going to hit.
MARTIN: And just as here in the U.S., the school year just started there. How are students coping?
KAKISSIS: Yeah. Well, you know, some students are short of some textbooks. Ukraine's Ministry of Culture says attacks on warehouses this summer have destroyed millions of Ukrainian books, schoolbooks among them. And many students also had this terrifying first week at school, like 14-year-old Viktoria Skulovatova (ph). On Wednesday, she and other students suddenly had to scramble into a shelter at a neighboring university, and a few minutes later, that university was hit.
VIKTORIA SKULOVATOVA: The jet drones, like, flew right above us. We heard the windows break, the light fell there. Like, I got really scared when we went out, when all-clear signal was. The cars that were near the building - they were all covered in this black powder, and I could also smell some really disgusting smell of something burning.
KAKISSIS: And now, Viktoria, like most students in Kyiv, are attending classes online from home.
MARTIN: And how is Ukraine's government and military responding?
KAKISSIS: Well, Ukrainian drones continue to hit energy and logistics sites in Russia. Now, Ukraine has been launching them all year in an attempt to weaken Russia's ability to wage war. Zelenskyy also warned airlines earlier this week that Ukrainian drones will fill Russian airspace, but he also hinted that there is diplomacy ahead. He said President Trump's envoys, who are Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, could be heading to Kyiv in the coming days, and this could mean restarting peace talks.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Joanna Kakissis in Kyiv. Joanna, I hope you'll stay safe. Thank you.
KAKISSIS: Thank you so much, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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