Russia attacked Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles, drones and guided bombs on Sunday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, authorities said, again highlighting Ukraine’s shortage of US-made Patriot air defence systems.
Moscow has in recent weeks stepped up its use of ballistic missiles as it seeks to choke off Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities deep inside Russia that have caused critical fuel shortages affecting both the military and the civilian population.
US president Donald Trump has said he is prepared to grant Ukraine licences to produce Patriots, the most effective means of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles, potentially bolstering Kyiv’s defences.
However, the details and timeline remain unclear, and full production could take years.
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The latest attack on Kyiv began at about 1.30am and continued for several hours, with explosions echoing across the city.
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Russia launched 41 missiles and 125 drones across Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said most of the missiles had targeted the capital.
Later on Sunday, a Russian attack on a postal facility near Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv killed three people and wounded at least 20, according to the regional administration.
Russian guided bombs also hit the cities of Kherson and Sumy, local authorities and Ukraine’s emergency service reported, with each of the strikes leaving at least one person dead.
The strikes on Kyiv sparked fires in five districts, damaging residential buildings, office and industrial sites, a dormitory and vehicles, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
Viktoria Shejko (32), was taking shelter in the corridor of her apartment block with her seven children and husband when they heard the loud explosions.
“When the alarm started, we checked that there were ballistics, then went into the corridor. Then it started exploding one missile after another,” she said.
The strain of constant bombardment is “very difficult psychologically”, she said. “It used to be once a week or even more rarely, but now if not every day, then every other day.”
Rescuers pulled four people from a burning home in the Sviatoshynskyi district, while in the Shevchenkivskyi district, they rushed to save residents from a three-storey building on fire. One person was found dead. Firefighters also responded to blazes in the Solomyanskyi, Desnianskyi and Dnipro districts.
Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed the attack on Kyiv targeted sites linked to the Ukrainian military — including plants producing Flamingo drones and parts for Neptune guided missiles, as well as a postal terminal used for storing dual-use goods and assembling drones, robotic systems and electronic warfare equipment.
Separately, a strike on two oil tankers at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast halted oil loadings at the site, the CPC said Sunday.
The attack on the Asia and Nissos tankers in the port of Novorossiysk sparked a fire aboard the Asia, which was extinguished.
The company did not say who was responsible for the attack.
It added that there were no casualties or oil spills, and the tankers, sailing under the flags of Liberia and the Marshall Islands, respectively, remained afloat.
Russia has been firing drones and missiles at Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities almost daily since it launched its full-scale 2022 invasion. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has pleaded with western allies to help Ukraine bolster its air defences and to supply it with advanced US-made Patriot interceptors capable of shooting down ballistic missiles.
Ukraine’s own stocks of interceptors appear to have dwindled. The attacks come amid big anti-government protests in Kyiv following Zelenskiy’s decision to sack the country’s popular and modernising defence minister Mykhailo Federov. Demonstrators want Federov reinstated and the Soviet-style commander in chief, general Oleksandr Syrskyi, sacked instead.
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There have also been attacks on Russia. On Saturday, Ukraine sent attack drones to destroy ecommerce warehouses in the Moscow and Tambov regions, killing eight people and causing major fires.
Earlier on Saturday Russian strikes killed five people and wounded almost 20 in several regions.
“In response to Russian strikes on our civilian infrastructure and on our cities and communities, two major logistics facilities were hit – in the Moscow and Tambov regions,” Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian president alleged the centres were used “to supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment”. – Guardian/AP
