'We go on living': Kyiv embraces city routines after nights of terror

KYIV (Reuters) -At night, Kyiv's skies are lit by fire and boom with explosions, but by day its streets thrum in a style familiar to any European capital, as Gen Z teens on ride-share scooters speed past impeccably dressed executives en route to work.

The city of 3 million people has endured several consecutive weeks of escalating deadly Russian drone and missile attacks. But many of its residents are determined to hold on to some normality. They are living their daily routines vividly.

Shortly after dawn on Thursday, Lycra-clad joggers and cyclists emerged from homes near a downtown apartment block hit hours before by a Russian bomb. Firefighters who worked through the night to extinguish the blaze packed up their hoses. Street sweepers cleared away a carpet of glass and shrapnel.

Around the corner, a hip, third-generation coffee shop opened its doors, part of a coffee scene that has thrived in the three and a half years since Russia's full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour. A young businessman stopped in for a morning brew.

Adorned in stylish sunglasses and a fluffy white dog in her arms, 66-year-old Antonina stood near the charred building.

"I came, I looked around, I cried a bit," she said.

But she said, she was ready for the day.

"We go on living."

Across the street from the charred apartments, business owner Dmytro Yatsenko surveyed the damage to his nail salon, whose plate glass windows had been shattered by the blast. Black and white CCTV video he showed Reuters captured the moment shards exploded into his shop.

"It was just about coming here right away to fix everything and getting back to work," said Yatsenko, 40, who said he was relieved none of his workers were hurt.

Other Kyiv residents expressed resignation over the steady rhythm of attacks that has increased since diplomatic efforts to end the war, now in its fourth year, stalled. Many said they were grateful to the country's soldiers for making it possible for life and work to continue in Kyiv.

In Thursday's bombardment, Russia launched around 400 drones and 18 missiles at Kyiv and several other regions, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

Two people were killed, 25 wounded and damages were reported in nearly every district in Kyiv. A day earlier, Russia had fired a record 728 drones at Ukraine.

"I took a cold shower, drank two coffees, sat and thought for a bit, realised that for now I can't change anything, then went to work," said 24-year-old translator Kateryna, waiting at a bus stop.

"That's it."

(Writing by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Mark Porter)