KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a large aerial assault in and around Ukraine’s capital overnight into Tuesday morning, killing at least 12 people and wounding more than a dozen others, including three children, local authorities said.
The strikes marked the sixth straight day of heavy Russian attacks on Kyiv that began last week and are an unprecedented stretch of consecutive aerial assaults since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than 4½ years ago. Moscow's aim is to grind down civilians by disrupting their daily life, Ukrainian officials say.
Several million Ukrainian schoolchildren returned to classes Tuesday for the new school year, just as Russia unleashed its onslaught of cruise and ballistic missiles, jet-powered drones, glide bombs and artillery salvos at Kyiv as well as eight other regions of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 12 people were killed, including an Indian citizen.
The attack struck civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in several districts of Kyiv, authorities said, with eight people killed in the city itself and three others in the surrounding region.
Six employees of state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsia were among those killed in Kyiv when a ballistic missile hit a depot and other premises, company chairman Oleksandr Pertsovskyi said in a social media post.
Nearly 350 emergency workers were deployed in Kyiv and the surrounding region, Zelenskyy said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces carried out a “massive strike” on Ukraine overnight with “precision-guided weapons” and long-range drones. The assault targeted facilities manufacturing and storing weapons as well as military-related infrastructure, it said.
Ukraine’s air force said that Russia began the attack at 6 p.m. Monday, using ballistic, cruise and anti-radar missiles, as well as 218 drones and decoys. About a third of the drones were jet-powered, which are much harder to intercept than the propeller-driven version.
The main Russian targets were in the Kyiv and southern Odesa regions, the air force said in a statement.
The attack on the Odesa region, located on the Black Sea, damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded one person, regional head Oleh Kiper said.
Two residential buildings were damaged, while a fire broke out at a textile factory. Russian forces also struck the Orlivka international ferry crossing on the border with Romania, he said.
Russia also shelled the northern Zhytomyr region, starting fires at an industrial facility and a warehouse, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said.
In the capital, first responders worked to clear rubble from damaged apartment buildings and free trapped residents.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its air defenses overnight intercepted 516 Ukrainian drones over 18 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea.
In the Leningrad region, the drone attack sparked a fire in the port of Ust-Luga, Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said, as Ukraine extended its campaign to hurt Russia's oil sector, which is a mainstay of the economy.
Ust-Luga is one of Russia’s largest oil and gas export terminals more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away from Ukraine. It has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks this year.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
MADRID (AP) — In crowded subway cars and sun-drenched plazas, an old-fashioned accessory in Spain has been everywhere thanks to the blistering summer heat.
Small enough to fit into a purse, the traditional Spanish folding hand fan, or abanico, snaps open into a semicircle. With little more than a flick of the wrist, it creates a surprisingly strong breeze.
As successive heat waves in Western Europe pushed temperatures this summer to punishing levels, the accessory has become essential, embraced by the young and old from Spain and elsewhere. Women — and a growing number of men — unfurl them on public transport, at concerts and at music festivals. In July, rainbow-colored abanicos were everywhere during Madrid’s raucous Pride celebrations.
On a recent August day, 20-year-old Ana Feliu blocked the sun with a paper abanico she was gifted during a Valencian festival. She carries it everywhere in the summer, she said.
“This one is my favorite because it's the biggest, but I have many more,” she told The Associated Press near Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square. Later in the week, temperatures in the Spanish capital were expected to reach 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit).
Also fanning himself was David González, whose abanico featured pinks, purples and reds.
“At first, I felt a little self-conscious, because it’s something that’s mainly associated with women, but I have to admit it serves a purpose — and it brightens my day,” said González, 53.
Historians believe the folding fan reached Europe through Portuguese maritime trade with Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries.
As early as the mid-17th century, the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez made his enigmatic "The Lady with a Fan," in which a woman, possibly French, poses with what appears to be a delicate wooden abanico.
As they grew fashionable in European courts, Spain developed a taste and industry of its own. Madrid became an important center of production, and by the 18th century, Valencia had emerged as the Spanish fan-making capital.
“During the 18th century, the printing industry really took off. And printing meant that the leaves of fans could be produced quite cheaply,” said Mary Kitson, curatorial consultant to The Fan Museum in London.
So embedded was the abanico in Spanish aristocratic society by the 1800s that women used them to discreetly express flirtation, interest or disapproval through what was called “the language of the fan.”
From Spain, the hand fan traveled to Latin America. In the 19th century, flamenco dancers began using the abanico as an expressive prop, as Cuban song and dance styles such as the guajira influenced the dance form. Over time, the fan’s association with flamenco helped turn it into a quintessential Spanish symbol.
“The fan is a perfect element because, on the one hand, it evokes the heat and humidity of Cuba — that heavy, oppressive feeling,” said Carmen Torres, a 44-year-old flamenco dancer in southern Spain. “And at the same time, it gives us a way to bring out the seductive, coquettish quality.”
For more than a century and a half, Javier Llerandi’s family has sold abanicos out of Casa de Diego, a wood-paneled shop in Madrid.
“We live from the heat,” Llerandi told the AP.
The fans at Casa de Diego are made in Spain and range from simple two-tone wooden ones to elaborate, hand-painted items crafted from mother-of-pearl with intricate floral patterns. They start at around 30 euros ($35), while others range from 200 to 500 euros (up to $580), with some high-end pieces reaching 6,000 euros (nearly $7,000). The price depends on the materials used, but even more so on the craftsmanship involved, he said.
As Madrid has grown into a tourist hot spot, foreign visitors are also snatching up his fans, which Llerandi notes are more reliable than their portable, electric counterparts.
“Battery-run items eventually run out of power, and always at the worst possible moment,” Llerandi said, adding with a smile: “Without a doubt, heat waves are good for this business.”
And for the less discerning customer, plastic fans with printed designs are sold for a few euros at souvenir kiosks, including one a couple hundred meters from Llerandi's store. There, too, a salesperson reported strong sales this summer.
Outside a towering bullfighting ring in Madrid, Juani Duran sells wooden hand fans with traditional floral designs for five euros apiece at a stall. Bullfights take place in open-air stadiums, and spectators traditionally dress up to attend them, making the elegant fans a fitting accessory.
“You’ll usually find a hand fan in any woman’s pocket — and in some men’s, too,” Duran said before a late-August bullfight.
“They're not the best quality,” she said, pointing at her stock, "but they'll get you through the summer."
Associated Press photographer Laura León in Seville, Spain contributed to this report.
Mass-produced fans featuring tourist images of Seville are displayed in a shop window in Seville, Spain, on Aug. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Laura Leon)
Carmen Torres, a professional flamenco dancer, rehearses a guajira, a flamenco style that traditionally incorporates the use of a fan, in Seville, Spain, on Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Laura Leon)
Fans are displayed at Casa Diego, a fan shop in Madrid, Spain, on Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A street vendor sells fans near the Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain, on Aug. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A woman uses a fan to cool herself on the subway in Madrid, Spain, on Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
