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Russian drones and ballistic missiles struck Kyiv overnight into Saturday, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens more, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine intercepted only one of 27 ballistic missiles fired due to a shortage of Patriot interceptors, a shortfall that comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced new reservations about licensing Ukraine to produce the missiles domestically.
Zelenskyy said Russia launched 35 missiles overnight, including 27 ballistic missiles, along with 185 attack drones of various types, with Kyiv as the primary target and additional strikes hitting the Dnipro, Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava regions.
"Only one ballistic missile was intercepted, simply because there are no interceptors for the Patriot systems. And it is this shortage of ballistic missile interceptors that only encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives," Zelenskyy wrote on X.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko wrote on Telegram that at least nine people were killed in the capital, with 28 residents injured, including four children, with 17 of the injured hospitalized, with others treated on an outpatient basis or at the scene.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) separately reported more than 30 people wounded in the attack.
The agency reported the attack struck five districts of Kyiv, with seven people killed and 14 wounded in the eastern Darnytsky district alone, and two killed and eight wounded in the western Solomiansky district, where a five-story residential building was damaged.
AFP journalists reported hearing more than 10 explosions in quick succession early Saturday, triggering car alarms, and saw dark clouds of smoke rising over the city.
Ukraine's state emergency service announced on Telegram that roughly 105 people had been rescued as of early Saturday.
Kateryna Kravchenko, 75, described the damage to her apartment to AFP: "Everything was smashed, the windows, everything... I can barely stand. I don't know how I'm going to get through all this."
Another resident, identified only as Oksana, 46, told AFP she planned to leave the city: "You can't stay here after something like this. What guarantee is there that it won't happen again?"
Russia's Defense Ministry wrote on Telegram that it had struck "military-industrial complex enterprises and logistics centers."
An AFP analysis of Ukrainian air force data published Saturday found Russia fired a record 376 missiles at Ukraine in July, more than twice the number fired in June, along with 4,956 long-range drones, down 14% from June.
AFP reported Kyiv can intercept the large majority of drones but remains reliant on allied supplies to counter missiles, particularly ballistic missiles, which AFP described as difficult to stop given their high, fast arcing trajectory and the minimal warning time they allow.
According to AFP, Russia's use of ballistic missiles has risen sharply, from an estimated 200-300 across all of 2024, according to military analysts, to 126 in July 2026 alone. Ukraine intercepted fewer than a third of them, per AFP's tally of official data.
AFP noted July saw some of the deadliest Kyiv strikes of the war, including at least 30 killed on the night of July 2 alone.
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Zelenskyy met Trump at the White House earlier in the week, partly to press for a license allowing Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptors domestically, and told Fox News afterward that Trump had agreed to grant such a license.
Trump's own public comments have since grown more equivocal.
In an interview published by the Financial Times (FT), Trump said he was "not sure" about the issue, telling the outlet, "It's a very extraordinary weapon, and . . . we have to be a little bit careful of who we license to. We don't really license equipment."
Speaking to reporters at Camp David on Friday, Trump said, "These weapons are incredible. We have to be very careful about letting somebody build them."
Trump went further in later remarks to reporters: "We have not agreed to that, we're talking about it, and so I think giving away that kind of technology, and I don't think this would ever happen."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said Saturday that Russia's attacks demonstrated Ukraine's urgent need for the weapons.
"It is the battle for the skies that will define the trajectory of this war. The stronger the air shield over Ukraine, the closer peace becomes," he said.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, triggering Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.
Tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced, with Russia currently occupying roughly a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, annexed in 2014.
The United Nations found last month was the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022, as Russia has increased its use of ballistic missiles that are especially difficult to intercept.
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