Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones at Ukraine on Saturday, killing two people and injuring 19, as Kyiv continues to grapple with a critical shortage of air defence munitions.
The capital, Kyiv, bore the brunt of one assault, with 11 individuals wounded by a combination of ballistic and cruise missiles, alongside drones.
President Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted the severity of the strikes, stating, “Civilian infrastructure was hit even before the air raid alert was issued,” and noted that “Our defenders managed to shoot down most of the targets, but not the ballistic ones.”
He urged allies to expedite the delivery of air defence packages agreed at the recent NATO summit.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia deployed six ballistic missiles, six cruise missiles, and 121 drones. Ukrainian forces successfully intercepted at least two cruise missiles and 111 drones.
Elsewhere, a missile strike in the port city of Odesa claimed two lives and injured one, while a drone attack on a civilian enterprise in eastern Kharkiv left seven wounded.
Ukraine, which is critically low on munitions for its Patriot air defence systems, has been largely unable to down ballistic missiles, which travel at several times the speed of sound, over the past month.
It has pleaded with allies for greater supplies of those munitions, and has also pushed Europe to work with Kyiv on its own anti-ballistic air defence system.
US President Donald Trump said this week that Ukraine will be granted a licence to produce its own Patriot interceptor missiles.
After Saturday’s attack, Zelenskiy called for those projects to move “as swiftly as possible”.
Russia has stepped up attacks on the capital in recent weeks. So far this month, strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region have killed more than 60 people.
Kyiv, in turn, has been pressuring Russia’s military logistics in occupied southern Ukraine, seeking to deprive Russian forces of fuel and munitions by conducting strikes on trucks and vessels deep behind the front lines.
Ukraine’s drone forces chief Robert Brovdi said his units had struck 21 fuel tanker vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight, as well as seven other cargo and support ships, bringing the total up to 76 vessels struck this week.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had targeted drone production facilities in Kyiv, as well as the ports of Izmail and Chornomorsk in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region.
The ministry also said Russian air defenses destroyed 178 Ukrainian drones overnight over eight Russian regions, as well as over the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Black and Azov seas.
