Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that 17 people were killed and 44 injured in a Russian strike on Kyiv and the surrounding region.
Zelenskyy said Russia launched 24 ballistic missiles, four Zircon or Oniks missiles and 115 drones. He said a significant number of the drones were jet-powered and offered condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed.
According to Zelenskyy, the main targets were warehouses belonging to civilian companies, including a brewery, construction-material warehouses and civilian logistics facilities. He also reported strikes on infrastructure and a railway station.
The facilities had nothing to do with the war, Zelenskyy said.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense provided a different version of events. As cited by state news agency TASS, the ministry said that its forces conducted strikes on the military targets in Kyiv and Kyiv region, including transport, logistics and distribution centers used for storing and delivering weapons as well as producing and distributing drones.
Ukrainian and Russian versions contradict each other in terms of whether the facilities that suffered from the shelling were civilian or military.
According to the ministry, the strikes targeted the commercial companies such as Nova Post, Epicenter, Raben Ukraine and a Chaika International Logistics Partnership center. The ministry said that those facilities served as the places where the dual-use goods and components for medium- and long-range drones are stored.
Moreover, the Russian ministry stated that Russian forces attacked three dry cargo ships south of Odesa carrying weapons and military equipment for the Ukrainian army. However, the source material does not verify those claims independently.
TASS cited a Ukrainian Air Force Telegram report as saying Ukraine’s air defenses did not intercept any of the Russian missiles launched overnight. The report said Tsirkon and Iskander missiles were among those used.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported fires at damaged warehouses and logistics companies in the Brovary, Bucha and Fastov districts of the Kyiv region, according to TASS.
The railway operator Ukrzheldoroga said suburban trains around the capital could face delays ranging from one hour to 2½ hours.
There was smoke all over the sky above Kyiv, and the authorities urged citizens to close the windows and stay indoors as air pollution increased, as reported by TASS citing Ukrainian media.
Epicenter said its warehouses and production facilities were destroyed in the explosions, according to TASS. The company estimated that rebuilding the lost capacity would take two years.
Zelenskyy said ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed in the attack. He urged Ukraine’s partners to increase deliveries of anti-ballistic systems or impose additional sanctions on Russian missile production.
He said a significant share of Russia’s ballistic missile production remained outside sanctions and called for action from the Group of Seven, the European Union and other governments supporting Ukraine.
The number of air defense missiles supplied by Ukraine’s partners during the first half of 2026 fell to one-third of the 2025 level, according to Zelenskyy. He said the decline affected every part of the six-month period, not only the summer.
Zelenskyy said partner countries possessed the missiles but had not made the political decisions necessary to provide them. He also called for faster production and the localization of missile production in Ukraine.
Responding to the attack, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union was making another €1.4 billion from immobilized Russian assets available to Ukraine.
“Russia must pay for the destruction it has caused,” von der Leyen said.
The European Commission said the EU received the €1.4 billion on Aug. 3 from interest earned on cash balances associated with immobilized assets of the Central Bank of Russia.
The payment covers revenue accumulated during the first half of 2026 and marks the fifth transfer of its kind. The fourth transfer took place in March 2026.
The immobilized assets have generated €8 billion in profits, according to the commission.
The EU will direct 95% of the latest proceeds through the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and 5% through the European Peace Facility.
Zelenskyy also said he met Wednesday with military leaders and representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine and his office.
The meeting focused on conditions at the front, military supply needs and the protection of infrastructure. Zelenskyy said Kostiantynivka and Slovyansk were receiving the greatest attention.
Military and intelligence officials also reviewed Ukraine’s priorities for August regarding what Zelenskyy called “long-range sanctions” against Russia. He said operations targeting Russian oil and refining facilities were continuing and called for international sanctions to reinforce them.
Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi also delivered a report during the meeting, Zelenskyy said. Koretskyi and representatives of Ukrainian businesses will propose measures to support businesses and logistics, he added.
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