At least 15 people have been killed in the latest Russian air attacks on Kyiv, according to the city’s mayor, as Ukraine warns that shortages of air-defence missiles are leaving civilians increasingly vulnerable.
The overnight strikes hit apartment buildings and warehouses across the Ukrainian capital. A children’s hospital and a school were also damaged, while thousands of properties lost electricity.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Ukraine urgently needs more ammunition and missile-defence systems from its international partners to protect civilians. Ukraine says it lacks enough interceptors President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed the high death toll partly on shortages of air-defence missiles, particularly interceptors used by US-made Patriot systems against Russian ballistic missiles.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia launched 168 drones and 44 missiles during the attack. Ukrainian air defences said they destroyed 146 drones and 39 cruise missiles. However, the Ukrainian Air Force’s update suggested that none of the Russian ballistic missiles launched during the overnight attack had been intercepted.
Zelensky said Ukraine needs additional Patriot interceptors urgently, warning that every additional interceptor could save lives. Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko described the country as effectively unprotected against ballistic missile attacks without sufficient interceptors.
Civilians left homeless The attacks caused extensive damage in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district, destroying apartments, cars and infrastructure that supplied heating to nearby residential buildings. Among those affected was Valeria Bondaruk, who had previously moved to Kyiv with her daughter after her home in southern Ukraine was destroyed.
Her Kyiv apartment has now also been damaged, prompting her to consider leaving the country. Another resident, primary school teacher Anastasiia Kovtun, said her apartment was destroyed in the attack. She said she and her partner might have been killed had they remained inside the building.
A day of mourning was declared in Kyiv for those killed. Fighting spreads beyond Ukrainian Defence Ministry said its forces used air-, land- and sea-based weapons against Ukrainian military facilities and warehouses. Meanwhile, Ukraine has continued launching long-range drone attacks against targets inside Russia.
Moscow claimed that 726 Ukrainian drones were shot down across several Russian regions.Romania also reported that a drone crossed into its airspace near the Ukrainian border before crashing in an uninhabited area. Poland said it launched defensive air operations to protect its airspace. The escalating attacks come as diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire remain stalled.
Both Moscow and Kyiv accuse the other side of targeting civilians. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and continues to control roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory.
