KYIV, Sept 2 - Russia launched an overnight barrage of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, officials said Monday, as children were returning to school across Ukraine. Some pupils found classes canceled because of damage from the attack.

Several series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital. Debris from intercepted missiles and drones fell in every district of Kyiv, wounding three people and damaging two kindergartens, the Interior Ministry said. City authorities reported multiple fires.

After more than 900 days of war, Russia and Ukraine show no sign of letting up in the fight or moving closer to the negotiating table. Both sides are pursuing ambitious ground offensives, with the Ukrainians driving into Russia’s Kursk region and the Russians pushing deeper into the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine that is part of the industrial Donbas region.

Speaking in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s operation in Kursk had drawn Russian troops away from southern Ukraine, but acknowledged that it had not yet succeeded in diverting Russian forces from the eastern frontlines, where the city of Pokrovsk is at risk of falling.

“We see that it is difficult there, and the most combat-ready Russian brigades have been concentrated in this area because it has always been their main target — Donbas. The complete, total occupation of Donbas: Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” Zelenskyy said.

He said last month that the aim of the Kursk incursion is to create a buffer zone that might prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border.

Russia launched 35 missiles and 26 Shahed drones at Ukraine overnight from Sunday to Monday, the Ukrainian air force said. Nine ballistic missiles, 13 cruise missiles and 20 drones were downed, it said.

Monday was the first day back at school after the summer vacation. In Ukraine, the day involves ceremonies and rituals, with students and often teachers wearing traditional costumes.

But the massive air assaults have taken a toll. In one last week, an F-16 warplane that Ukraine received from Western partners crashed. The pilot, one of the few Ukrainians trained to fly the jets, was killed.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, visiting Ukraine for the first time since taking office, traveled with Zelenskyy to Zaporizhzhia, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the front line.

They visited an underground school, and Schoof announced his government would give Ukraine 200 million euros ($221 million) to help protect and repair the electricity infrastructure targeted almost daily by Russian bombs.

“It must never be normal for children to have to go to school underground. It must never become normal for people’s homes to be cold because power plants have been bombed,” Schoof said.

He said the Netherlands would continue providing F-16 fighter jets and munitions to Ukraine and noted a plan floated last month by Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham to let retired F-16 pilots from other countries join the fight in Ukraine.

“That would be an interesting idea, because then you can just speed up the process of deploying the F-16s. But we have to look into those things, with all the countries involved with the F-16 coalition,” Schoof said. (ap/ez)