A Russian missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian capital has killed at least 12
Listen to this article
Average 5 minutes
The audio version of this article was created by AI-based technology. It can be mispronounced. We are working with our partners to continuously review and improve the results.
Russia launched a wave of missiles and drones into Kyiv early Monday, killing at least 12 people in an attack that exposed gaps in Ukraine's air defense industry, authorities said.
Missiles launched by Russia hit their targets, underscoring Kyiv's lack of Patriot interceptor missiles ahead of a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. This attack happened hours after the president of Ukraine warned that there would be a terrorist attack.
Another 60 were injured, according to local officials, as emergency workers combed through the rubble to search for survivors in high-rise buildings in two disaster-stricken areas.
“These are residential buildings. Places where people sleep and live their normal lives,” said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the City Military Administration in Kyiv in a post on Telegram.
He said that the residential building in Podilskyi district was partially destroyed. In the Darnytsia region, several multi-storey buildings were damaged and people are believed to be trapped under the rubble.
Russian airstrikes in Ukraine have repeatedly struck civilian areas. More than 16,000 Ukrainian citizens have been killed in the conflict, according to the United Nations.
Khrystyna Piatetska, 20, a resident of Kyiv, Darnytskyi, said she started screaming after the first strike, which was followed by a second explosion that blew out windows in her building.
The lights went out, the smell of burning filled the stairs with smoke.
“When we left the building, the bodies were lying there,” said Piatetska. “When we came down, the cars started exploding, we came out from under the rubble and went straight to the fire.”
Halina Ivanivna, a 61-year-old resident of Kyiv, said the sound of the first strike was heard around 02:00. After a while, her building began to collapse near her.
“Everything was falling apart,” he said. Water poured into the building while smoke filled the air as emergency services rushed to evacuate residents.
Lack of interceptors
The new attack comes days after a Russian strike killed 31 people in the capital on Thursday, the deadliest in the capital this year. Russia's Defense Ministry said the bombing was in retaliation for recent strikes in Ukraine, which have caused severe fuel shortages and pressured President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine's air force said Russia shot down dozens of fighter jets and dozens of cruise missiles at the country overnight, targeting Kyiv in particular, with 29 missiles launched hitting their targets, underscoring how little Ukraine could do to stop them.
“To intercept the balls, we need interceptors,” Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on national television, commenting on the attack. “The Russians are taking advantage of the fact that there is a shortage of missiles now, in Ukraine and in the world.”
Russia is exploiting vulnerabilities in Ukraine's air defenses, which still rely heavily on US Patriot systems to intercept ballistic missiles it cannot shoot down any other way. The war in the Middle East has squeezed the world supply of Patriot interceptors, which are already being produced in limited quantities.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is expected to attend the NATO summit, told X that Ukraine's forces are doing well against drones and cruise missiles but not against Russian ballistic missiles – a shortfall he blames on logistical interference. He urged the American and European allies to leave the conference with strong decisions to strengthen air defense in Ukraine and protect human lives.
“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies' arsenals, Russia is only encouraged to continue to 'destroy' residential buildings. The United States and Europe have enough power to stop this terrorism,” he said in a statement following the attack.
Russia's Defense Ministry said the attack targeted weapons factories in Kyiv, including facilities it said produce drones, sea drones, armored vehicles and missiles, as well as facilities that repair air defense systems and fuel and energy infrastructure in the city and surrounding regions. The claims could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, an energy provider in Russian-occupied Crimea reported blackouts across the peninsula due to “external influence.” The Moscow-appointed head of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the Ukrainian offensive cut off electricity in the city early Monday, but it was later restored using backup equipment.
Russia's Yaroslavl region governor Mikhail Yavrayev said two people were injured in a Ukrainian airstrike in the city of the same name. He said that more than 70 Ukrainian drones were shot down when they attacked the city. Yavrayev did not say whether any facilities were damaged, but the Astra online news agency said the attack was aimed at an oil refinery in the city, which caused the fire.
Russia's Ministry of Defense said that air forces shot down 519 Ukrainian planes overnight.
