An overnight Russian missile-and-drone attack killed at least 17 people in and around Kyiv and injured dozens, intensifying Ukraine's appeal for systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles.
Preliminary figures from Ukraine's air force said 115 drones were launched and 98 were brought down. None of the ballistic missiles in the assault was intercepted. Ukrainian officials reported strikes at seven locations after attacks began shortly after midnight, with rescue teams searching damaged sites and treating casualties.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said civilian facilities bore the brunt of the barrage. Reported targets or damaged locations included a brewery, warehouses holding construction materials and a railway station. Two people were pulled alive from a collapsed warehouse near central Kyiv. An ambulance driver was among those hurt, while four injured people were described as being in critical condition.
Fires broke out at storage and industrial properties, including facilities operated by the home-improvement retailer Epicentr. Debris fell near an apartment building, and an ammonia leak prompted an emergency response. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said people might still be trapped beneath rubble as operations continued. Casualty numbers therefore remained subject to revision.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had attacked logistics hubs and supply sites used for military purposes. Ukrainian authorities rejected the broader framing of the night's damage, describing the affected places as mainly civilian. The supplied evidence did not independently resolve every site's use, but the reported deaths, injuries and damage demonstrated substantial effects away from the front line.
Zelenskyy linked the outcome to shortages of ballistic-missile interceptors, especially missiles used by US-made Patriot systems. He said Ukrainian air-defence deliveries during the first half of 2026 had fallen to one-third of their 2025 level. Global demand had increased amid wars in both Ukraine and Iran, creating competition for limited stocks.
European leaders condemned the attacks and called for additional pressure on Moscow. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia should bear the cost of the destruction, while French President Emmanuel Macron backed further sanctions and stronger military support for Ukraine.
The assault came as authorities ordered families with children to leave Kramatorsk in the eastern Donetsk region because of worsening security. Together, the evacuation order and the strike on Kyiv illustrated Ukraine's two-layered threat: sustained pressure near the front and repeated long-range attacks on cities far behind it.
Ukraine also said supplies of air-defence missiles in early 2026 had fallen sharply from the preceding year. That comparison concerned deliveries, not the overall size of Ukraine's stockpile, which was not provided. It nevertheless explained why Kyiv paired requests for interceptors with demands for sanctions on components used in Russian ballistic-missile production.
