Russian Missile and Drone Attack Kills 14 in Kyiv Area

A massive Russian attack of 68 missiles and 351 drones killed 14 people overnight in Kyiv and the surrounding region and injured dozens more, including five children, Ukrainian officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 11 people were confirmed killed in Kyiv and around 60 injured. Three more people were killed and 16 injured in the Kyiv region, he said.

About 30 residential buildings in Kyiv sustained significant damage, according to Ukrainian officials, and Zelenskyy said the strikes damaged more than 10 locations across the city. Rescuers had pulled 64 people from affected sites, including two children, he said.

In Vyshneve, in the Kyiv region, fire still burned where a missile hit, and crews were evacuating people from a residential area. Zelenskyy said more than 400 first responders and police officers responded to the attack.

The attack reached beyond the capital. In Zaporizhzhia, a strike on a gas station injured five people, including an 11-year-old boy.

Ukraine’s air defense intercepted nearly all cruise missiles and more than 90% of the Shahed drones, but ballistic missiles struck civilian areas, the country’s defense ministry said. Zelenskyy said the ballistic missiles got through because Ukraine is short on interceptors.

Russia, the ministry said, is deliberately stepping up ballistic missile strikes to an unprecedented scale while exploiting a critical shortage of interceptors for Patriot air defense systems. Global monthly production of Patriot interceptors, it said, falls short of the number Russia fires at Ukraine over the same stretch.

Ukraine’s defense minister said he would hold talks with counterparts in countries that hold Patriot interceptors. Ukraine has signed contracts for interceptors, with deliveries set to begin next year, and is asking partners to transfer missiles now and replenish them later through those deliveries.

Russia is only encouraged to keep “vanquishing” residential buildings as long as Patriot missiles sit in allies’ stockpiles. — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy urged the United States and European partners to leave the NATO Summit in Ankara with strong decisions on air defense.

On Sunday, Zelenskyy warned that intelligence indicated Russia was preparing a new massive strike and urged Ukrainians to heed air raid alerts. He said the timing — just after America’s Independence Day and before the NATO summit — was typical of Russian President Vladimir Putin.