Kyiv’s most-bombed neighborhood just won’t quit
Original article contains additional illustrations After four years of war, life in Lukianivka, the most frequently hit part of the Ukrainian capital, is a mix of adaptability and endurance, defiance and denial, resignation and resilience. July 3, 2026 10 min By Steve Hendrix, Serhiy Morgunov and Kostiantyn Khudov, KYIV — With each cappuccino that barista Anya Balyokha made on a recent morning, the scent of coffee gained a bit more on the smell of burned shopping mall — the air still acrid from the Russian ballistic missile that destroyed the stores across the street a week earlier. But business was still good in Lukianivka, the beleaguered hilltop community that is the most-bombed neighborhood in the most-bombed district in Kyiv. Regulars nursed flat whites, a war-scape of burned brick and shattered glass visible through the windows not covered in plywood. Commuters stopped for lattes on their way to the nearby Metro station, which doubles as an air raid shelter where some may ha...