Russia launched a blistering ballistic missile attack on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and its suburbs before dawn on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens more, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow takes advantage of Ukraine’s depleted air defences.
The attack set off large blazes that filled the skies with smoke as rescue workers raced to find survivors in the rubble.
It was the third large attack on the capital in a week as Ukraine runs desperately low on interceptor missiles for its Patriot batteries, the only reliable defence against Russia’s most sophisticated missiles.
“Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today,” president Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine said in a statement. “It is very important that our partners understand that delays in supplying them, or an unwillingness to provide antiballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction.”
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The Ukrainian air force said they had not intercepted any of the 24 ballistic missiles and four hypersonic missiles that Russia used in the attack. The air force added that, although it had shot down 98 drones, 17 strikes were recorded.
The missiles struck in just a matter of minutes, leaving little time for civilians to seek shelter.
Zelenskiy said the main targets of the attack had been warehouse facilities belonging to civilian businesses. They included a train depot, a brewing company, construction materials warehouses and civilian logistics facilities, he said.
At least eight people were killed at a train facility in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary, local officials said. Three were killed at a sorting centre for Nova Poshta, a postal and delivery company, that was destroyed in the attack, according to officials.
“Early reports indicate that bodies have been discovered on the railway platform near the logistics centres that came under attack,” the national railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, said in a statement.
Ukraine continued to target facilities in Russia belonging to Wildberries, the country’s largest online retailer, including an overnight attack directed at a warehouse in Tula, about 320km from the border.
Separately, Germany’s Leipzig-Halle airport, a large hub for transporting cargo and military equipment, temporarily suspended flights after an armed drone was found overnight and a cargo plane collided in mid-air with a small, unidentified object.
Several aircraft, including a passenger plane, were diverted, and part of the airport remained closed, according to a statement published on Wednesday by local police. The airport has previously been targeted for espionage and sabotage.
The state prosecutor general and state criminal police have now taken over the case and are looking for witnesses, according to a separate statement on Wednesday afternoon.
The discovery of a drone was confirmed by a spokesperson for Germany’s interior ministry. According to state police, this drone was equipped with an explosive device.
The government separately confirmed that a plane struck a smaller object in the air and was forced to land at a regional airport in Hanover. State police said the plane only incurred minor damage.
German news agency DPA reported, citing a Nato spokesperson, that the drone was found near a Ukrainian aircraft. Leipzig airport is an important base for Ukraine’s Antonov transport planes since Russia invaded the country.
A Nato spokesperson said the organisation was aware of the incident and German authorities were investigating.
The airport in Leipzig, in the country’s east, has previously been the target of attacks and espionage attempts. In 2025, a woman was convicted of collecting information about flights, particularly military transports, to help with spying for China.
A year earlier, a freight container caught fire at a DHL logistics centre in an incident authorities said may have been attempted sabotage by Russia.
Meanwhile, a North Korean missile unit has begun deploying to western Russia and could be equipped with 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers for strikes against Ukraine, an official at Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said.
Russia has fired scores of North Korean ballistic missiles at Ukraine since late 2023, but the deployment of North Korean missile forces would be an expansion of the already extensive military co-operation between Moscow and Pyongyang.
Andrii Cherniak of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence said Russia planned to base the missile unit of around 90 North Korean personnel in the western Russian region of Voronezh, within its 112th Missile Brigade.
A source familiar with the issue told Reuters that the United States is aware of the North Korean deployment, but declined to elaborate. The CIA declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pyongyang has already sent a new batch of 40 KN-23 and KN-24 missiles and personnel to Russia, but the configuration of the deployment and total number of missiles will be finalised at top-level talks next month, he said.
Russia expects the deployment to involve 120 North Korean ballistic missiles and six launchers, he said.
It is not clear what precise role the North Koreans would play in Russian missile operations.
The deployment described by Cherniak appears to coincide with Russia last week firing its first two North Korean missiles at Ukraine since last August.
– This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Additional reporting: Bloomberg/Reuters
