A Russian missile strike on Kyiv killed at least nine people and wounded 30 on Friday night, with Ukraine able to intercept only one of 27 ballistic missiles because its Patriot ammunition had run out.
Fires broke out in seven districts of the capital after missiles hit residential buildings, leaving large craters in a densely populated area. Five of the dead were killed running toward air-raid shelters; two more died in a second strike while trying to help survivors.
A resident named Oleg told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne that his neighbor was killed in the attack, his legs torn off.
Ivan, 13, sheltered in his bathroom with his parents when the attack began. He later told UNICEF Ukraine that the windows began to shake and electricity cut out, and that glass and fragments struck him when he opened the bathroom door. Ivan said he could not breathe and had no time to be frightened, but saw blood and realized he was wounded. His parents were unhurt, though his mother was very scared, he said, showing numerous injuries on his arm and chest.
Patriot shortage and US dispute
President Volodymyr Zelensky said only one ballistic missile was shot down because no missiles remained for Ukraine’s Patriot systems, the only ones Ukraine has that are capable of intercepting Russia’s most dangerous weapons.
Zelensky said the shortage of anti-ballistic interceptors was what encouraged Russia to carry out such attacks against civilian life. He said it was very important that partners understood these weapons were needed not in some warehouse for possible future scenarios, but immediately, to contain and stop the Russian war in Ukraine.
His remarks came amid reports that the United States had refused to commit to Ukraine’s request for 300 Patriot missiles before year end. Ammunition stocks have been depleted by the US-Israel war against Iran, while production levels remain low.
President Donald Trump contradicted Zelensky’s account of their meeting this week, saying he had not agreed to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot ammunition itself. Trump said the US had to be very careful about letting others manufacture the missiles, a reversal of his July statement that the US would give Ukraine that right.
Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Olga Stefanishina told reporters that Ukraine was in talks with the Pentagon on a license to produce Patriot PAC-3 missiles, but the process could take between 12 months and five years. One American manufacturer had already visited Ukraine and another was planning to do so soon.
Attacks across the south
Russia has been launching around 100 ballistic missiles a month against Ukraine, firing about 30 in each major attack. Strikes are expected to focus on destroying Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this winter, causing major blackouts in freezing temperatures.
On Saturday, four aviation bombs hit the center of Kherson in southern Ukraine, and a drone wounded seven passengers on a public bus in Dnipropetrovsk. Three residents of a 25-storey coastal building in Odesa were also wounded by a drone as the port city continues to face daily attacks.
July recorded a record number of Russian casualties, with more than 42,000 dead and wounded according to Kyiv.
Ukraine struck three Russian oil refineries in Bashkortostan on Saturday, Zelensky said, some 1,600 kilometres from Ukraine. A maritime drone also sank a sanctioned container ship named Yanina in the Black Sea, the president said, as part of Ukraine’s effort to deprive Russia of resources and destabilize its economy.
