Russia missile strike kills 10 in Kyiv as Ukraine seeks more Patriot interceptors

Kyiv. Russia launched a heavy missile and drone attack on Kyiv and surrounding areas early on Saturday, killing at least 10 people, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that his country had exhausted interceptor missiles for its US-made Patriot air defence systems.

Mr Zelenskiy said Russia fired 35 missiles, including 27 ballistic missiles, and 185 drones during the attack. Only one ballistic missile was intercepted, he said, because Ukraine had run out of Patriot interceptors.

“Every package of ballistic missile interceptors saves the lives of our people. And every night without them results in more casualties,” he said in a message on Telegram.

More than a dozen explosions were heard across Kyiv during several waves of attacks, according to Reuters witnesses.

The strike came as the war entered its fifth year, with fighting continuing along a 1,200-kilometre front line. Although Russian advances have slowed this year, Ukraine has stepped up attacks inside Russia, targeting oil facilities, logistics hubs and weapons production sites.

Mr Zelenskiy said Ukraine had brought the war closer to Russia by striking infrastructure linked to Moscow’s war effort, including three oil refineries in the Bashkortostan region.

Russia has also intensified missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Ukraine has relied heavily on Patriot air defence systems, but supplies of interceptor missiles previously allocated for Kyiv have reportedly been redirected to the US military and American allies in the Gulf following the Iran war.

Both Moscow and Kyiv deny deliberately targeting civilians since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Second major Kyiv attack this week

Saturday’s strike was the second major attack on Kyiv this week. On Thursday, nine people, including six members of one family in a village near Kryvyi Rih, were killed, while a suspected Russian cruise missile landed in Poland.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said damage was reported in seven districts across Kyiv, a city of about three million people.

Mr Zelenskiy said fires broke out across the capital, damaging 18 residential buildings, a school, the Lithuanian Embassy and other infrastructure facilities.

Ukrainian prosecutors said seven people were killed in the Darnytskyi district on the left bank of the Dnipro River, while two others died in the Solomyanskyi district on the right bank.

Another person was killed in Kyiv region, where several warehouses were damaged, local officials said.

Dozens of people were injured, including four children who suffered shrapnel wounds and cuts.

“I looked at my phone, it was 1:30 and the sirens were sounding. I was lying dressed in my bed, I got up immediately. And then the explosions started — boom, boom,” said Nadiia Komarova, a 68-year-old apartment building concierge in Kyiv.

“Our ceilings have started to crumble. My window here is smashed, and everything has fallen inside,” she told Reuters.

Reuters footage showed police and emergency responders working at damaged sites, with firefighters battling fires and rescuers recovering bodies. Charred vehicles were seen near residential buildings.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city was working to increase the number of shelters as attacks continued to intensify.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha renewed calls for urgent air defence support, saying control of the skies would determine the course of the war.

“It is the battle for the skies that will define the trajectory of this war. The stronger the air shield over Ukraine, the closer peace becomes,” he said.