Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian capital kill 2 people, ending pause in attacks

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Two people were killed and at least 10 injured after Russia struck the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with drones and missiles overnight on Tuesday, local authorities said.

The attack comes after a pause over the weekend as U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Kyiv for their first official visit in a renewed push to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The main targets of the overnight attack were Kyiv and the southern Odesa region. Ukrainian forces shot down and suppressed two ballistic missiles, 31 cruise missiles and 142 drones. Hits were recorded in 29 locations, Ukraine’s Air Force said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram that the attack was complex and appeared deliberately designed to cause maximum damage, involving ballistic and cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles and Shahed drones.

The attack caused significant damage to residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, he said.

Strikes also hit critical infrastructure in several other regions. In Odesa, a regular market was hit and in Kharkiv, two people were injured and a multistory building was damaged, Zelenskyy said.

In the Sumy region, a train locomotive operating on the Kyiv-Sumy route was attacked at a railway station, Zelenskyy said. Zaporizhzhia and the Dnipropetrovsk regions also came under attack, he said.

Damage and fires occurred in at least five districts of the capital, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said, while a statement on Telegram by the Kyiv City Military Administration said damage to civilian infrastructure was located in at least 16 locations.

A 26-story, non-residential building was hit in the Holosiivskyi district. At another location in the same district, a fire broke out and the flames spread to a nearby non-residential building. Rescuers saved one person during a search and two people were evacuated from an apartment in a 16-story, residential building.

People also were trapped in a five-story, residential building in the Solomianskyi district. At least 10 people were rescued, according to the emergency service, which said fires also were recorded in the Darnytskyi and Podilskyi districts.

Kyiv resident Iryna Barisenkova, 61, said she heard explosions while traveling on public transport and was told there was a large fire near the Darnytskyi Vehicle Repair Plant, or DVRZ, area on the capital’s left bank.

“Everything was thundering on the left bank,” Barisenkova said. “It was just brutal.”

Barisenkova said she slept well during the previous two nights while Witkoff and Kushner traveled to Kyiv and then stayed in the city.

“We got some rest, thanks to them,” she said. “Let them come more often so they don’t shell us.”

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A man walks along an underpass as smoke rises following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

VENICE, Italy (AP) — A slew of high-profile films are debuting Tuesday at the Venice Film Festival, including Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk documentary, a psychological thriller with Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, and a drama from Casey Affleck.

With a runtime of nearly four hours, including an intermission, “Musk” is a portrait of the world’s richest man and an investigation into the scope of his power and influence. Gibney, an Oscar-winning filmmaker who has profiled powerful organizations and people before, from Enron and Elizabeth Holmes to Scientology, told The Associated Press that he started off as a kind of admirer and hoped that Musk might sit down for an interview.

“Ultimately he didn’t want to talk to me,” Gibney said. “Then you start digging into the facts and you follow them where they lead. And where they led for me was to a place that upended the myth, I would say, of Elon Musk as a kind of modern Leonardo da Vinci.”

The film is expected in North American theaters in October.

Real-life couple Cruz and Bardem will add some glamour to the day with the debut of their new film, “Bunker,” directed by Florian Zeller. The film is about an architect who agrees to build a survivalist bunker for a billionaire, and the decision has ramifications for his marriage. Zeller said he wrote the film for his stars specifically, who have appeared together in films many times going back to “Jamón Jamón.”

“‘Bunker’ touches on several times contemporary themes – fear of the future, ecological threats, rising social inequality, and rampant individualism–but it does so through a deeply personal lens: a couple struggling with each other,” Zeller said in his director’s statement. “I wanted to explore love, fidelity and forgiveness while placing the audience in a position of deliberate ambiguity.”

Stephen Graham, Paul Dano and Patrick Schwarzenegger also star in the film, which Searchlight Pictures will release in theaters early next year.

The film is playing in competition alongside titles such as “Wild Horse Nine” and “Ink,” and, like them, it’s one of the possible awards contenders in the Venice slate and is expected to have a qualifying run in 2026. Zeller’s film “The Father” won Anthony Hopkins a best actor Oscar. He also won for the screenplay.

Also debuting is “Company,” a meditation on grief and compassion, which Affleck directed and co-wrote. The film, which is seeking distribution, is set in winter 1975, when a mysterious woman crashes a holiday gathering. The story then opens itself to another, with a moral debate at its center.

“I spent a lot of my life looking over the ledger, keeping score, frustrated by the debt of kindness. Somewhere along the way I began to realize that the ledger is never balanced by the world. It’s balanced by what you contribute,” Affleck said in his director’s statement. “That’s what this film is reaching for.”

“Company,” which is also in competition for the Golden Lion, stars Nick Nolte and Ben Mendelsohn, and features Affleck’s children Atticus Affleck and Indiana Affleck.

Winners chosen by the Maggie Gyllenhaal–led jury will be announced Saturday.

For more coverage of the 2026 Venice Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival

A presenter is filmed on the red carpet prior to the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

People view film posters prior to the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

Jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal poses for photographers at the jury photo call during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

This combination of images show filmmaker Alex Gibney, left, and Elon Musk. (AP Photo)