Although still roughly 120 km away from the active front line in Ukraine, the attacks on the city of Dnipro are becoming more frequent in the past weeks. The city serves our teams as the base for our MedEvac operations. Our Infield Operations Coordinator Moto Michikata reports how she experienced her first attack, triggered by a threat that has just become acute again.
Cover photo: Raphael Schumacher

Date: 13 October 2026

Time: 08:30

Subject: Aerial guided bombs have arrived in Dnipro (not for the first time, but first time for me)

This morning, the warfare here in Dnipro City intensified once again.

Aerial attacks in Dnipro City have been intensifying over the past weeks with many jet-powered drones and missiles flying over the city, attacking non-residential and residential settlements.

I went to bed at midnight. At 00:54, woke up with the sound of air alert going off on my phone next to me. Opened the phone and checked Telegram channels. A ballistic threat from the north. Thankfully, the ballistic threat was lifted by 01:01 and the air alert was lifted at 03:58.

At 05:06. I woke up with the sound of the air alert app once again. Opened the phone, checked Telegram channels. It was a drone in northern part of Dnipropetrovsk region transiting to Poltava region. Could breathe again. Continued to monitor Telegram channels as often drones come one after another.

At 05:07, I saw a message that I could not quite work out from one channel and most likely to be the translation from Ukrainian to English. The message said “Impact zone between Synel’nykove (55km, 1.0hr drive) and Pys’menne (90km/ 1.5hr drive). The launch positions were closer than usual, so the Dnipro River was also affected.” Then I realised Synel’nykove district was under the threat of aerial guided bombs. I did not think much of it at that point as ‘KABs’, which are aerial guided or glide bombs do not travel as far as Dnipro City – so I naively thought.

Then the unthinkable happened.

New information from dozens of Telegram channels started flooding in mentioning of KABs heading towards Dnipro City at around 05:15. I could not believe it myself as to what I was seeing and it took me a few seconds to process such information. Then I felt the sensation of blood draining from the body with fear. Dnipro City, miles away from areas affected by KABs now waiting for five to six KABs that could land anywhere in the city.

At 05:17, on one of the Telegram channels read “Confirmation: The estimated target is Dnipro. Immediately seek shelter”…

I shouted “Shelter!!!” to wake colleagues up then started hearing strange sounds heading towards us. The sound was unfamiliar. Not the sound of piston-powered drones, not jet-powered drones, or the whistling sound of missiles, nor the booming sound from Mach cone. By 05:19, we started hearing the loud bang sound of explosions. One explosion, two explosions, three explosions and then went on. By 05:28, the air alert had been lifted and I went back to my room to get ready for a walk to get some fresh air. Then at 05:46, the sound of a siren on the dark streets near the guest house came alive.

In early September, Dnipro City for the first time received Banderol cruise missiles. It was fearful at the time and still is to a certain extent today, but the reality of living in Ukraine is that things get normalised quite quickly. And now today, on 13 October, KABs. We are now on the frontline on aerial warfare.

At the time of writing at 08:30, I´m unsure of the full extent of the impact from this morning’s attack. In one of the city’s districts, the blast wave from the explosion shattered windows in high-rise buildings and other sighting of damages to a transportation infrastructure facility, multi-story buildings and cars.

However, the fact is, KABs are now in town and fearing to see what will happen next.

P.S. Considering what happened this morning, we are in good spirits (I think).