Every day, Kyiv usually feels far from the front line. But at night, the war was vaguely visible.

During rush hour in the morning, traffic along the Dnipro River is busy as people try to go to work and spend their daily lives.

At night, every once in a while, the air strike sirens will go out. Most of the time, people glance at their phones and then decide on their action plans based on the threat.

Last night, surveillance channels (such as Telegram) reminded Kiev residents that it may involve not only drones, but also missiles.

They weren’t always accurate, but this time the air strike sirens rang and people listened.

The air defense’s fiasco intercepted drones and missiles, which was the soundtrack for most of the night. People can sleep through them.

But then, around 03:00, a huge explosion occurred – the sound of the missile hit a building. Enough to awaken the people of the whole city.

People go to shelter. Every once in a while, we could hear the howling sounds above the drone’s heads. Then, when some people are shot down, the light flashes and they fall from the sky.

After the Big Bang wakes us up, we can see a lot of smoke on the horizon.

We now know that this is a strike in the Darnytskyi district of the left bank of Kiev.

According to Ukrainian military reports, Russia launched nearly 600 drones and more than 30 missiles at night.

Missile and drone strikes were recorded at 13 different locations, and the attack on Darnytskyi was the deadliest.

Arriving on the scene on Wednesday morning, we can see our own consequences.

The missiles passed through the middle of the lower-rise apartment; the fifth floor completely collapsed.

Rescuers climbed the rubble on the rubble – some of them were still suffocating.

Brick and wrought iron balconies were twisted in the explosion, some hanging from a line. Planting pots and fruit baskets sit on broken windowsills, which reminds people of these families, whose lives were hidden behind these walls until a few hours ago.

Excavators and trucks are lined up to collect the broken locations of the building and clear the road for workers, trying to screen the debris in hopes of finding survivors.

Every once in a while, stretchers with handbags are shipped – victims found in rubble.

Nearby, Iryna Kutsenko sat in a chair and her cell phone sat in her ears.

Since 03.30, she has tried desperately to contact her mother Liubov. Every time she calls it, it will ring.

She said, starting to cry and say, “You will never think this is your house.” Her mother didn’t want to go to the shelter. She was slower than Iryna and decided to shelter in the corridor.

“These attacks are very cruel,” Elina said. “They happen when people sleep and you can’t get the orientation.”

“And they are attacking everything together – missiles and shaheds (drones). They both attack at the same time. Such a life is impossible.”

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha was also on the scene.

What do these attacks mean for the current bidding to end the war? I asked him.

“This is a pure example of a terrorist attack,” he told me. “This is Russia’s reaction to all our peace proposals and all our peace efforts.”

Kiev’s death toll climbs all day long. At least 19 killed four children.

Oksana Rumpik, 54, and her husband Mykhailo survived a missile strike in the apartment block, but their golden Volvo car was hit by shrapnel.

“I can’t.” She was unable to complete her sentence when asked what she did to the Russian strike.

“People are dying, simple people are dying. Many people are dying, you can’t imagine.”

Her husband believes that the only way to peace is to have Vladimir Putin.

“If there is negotiation and peace, Putin (can’t) serve as president,” he said, acknowledging that this is an unlikely situation.

It has been 40 months since Russia’s full-scale invasion, but the reality of the Ukrainian capital war will never be out of reach.