Rescuers were digging bodies from the rubble of a Kyiv high-rise ripped open in the overnight bombardment. The latest attack came on the eve of a Nato summit where US President Donald Trump is due to hold talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in a renewed push for peace.
Ukraine’s military was unable to down any of the 23 ballistic missiles fired by Russia, according to air force data, reflecting its increasing vulnerability to Moscow’s strikes as stocks of its prized Patriot missiles run out.
Zelensky has pleaded for interceptors – the only weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal that can shoot down ballistic projectiles, whose high velocity and steep flight path make them difficult to stop.
Speaking in his nightly video address, Zelensky said it was “simply absurd that, in the modern world, production has still not been scaled up to the level actually required to protect people from ballistic terror.”
He said that Ukraine had the know-how to produce the weapons and if it received US licences to manufacture US Patriot systems “our production would be sufficient not only to defend Ukraine but also to assist partners who need them”.
Earlier, the president called for “strong decisions” at the Nato summit in Türkiye, which begins on Tuesday, to ensure Ukraine can defend itself. Ukrainian air force data shows air defences shot down just four of 49 ballistic missiles in July.
“As long as Patriot missiles sit in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep destroying residential buildings,” Zelensky said on X. “The US and Europe have the power to stop this terror.”
Ukraine intercepted 37 other missiles and more than 90 percent of the 351 drones used during Monday’s attack, the air force said.
At least 18 people were killed in Kyiv, the Emergency Services said on Telegram as search and rescue operations recovered more bodies as crews worked through the night. Prosecutors said 10 were killed in the wider Kyiv region.
Emergency Services reported repeated explosions and many damaged residential buildings in Vyshneve, outside the capital.
The governor of southeastern Zaporizhzhia region said a drone strike on a filling station killed two people later on Monday. And in Sumy region on the Russian border, where Moscow wants to broaden a buffer zone, the regional governor said two residents died in separate Russian drone strikes.
In Kyiv, nearly 30 buildings were significantly damaged, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
A search operation dragged into Monday afternoon as crews combed mountains of rubble and twisted metal in the multi-storey building whose top floors had been torn open.
Alyona, 22, was waiting to hear news about her 19-year-old friend Vika, who was missing after the attack.
“We’re sitting here and waiting until they retrieve them … She’s so kind, only 19 years old. She’s such a kind girl,” Alyona told Reuters as she watched from a nearby playground.
Monday’s attack came days after this year’s deadliest strike on Kyiv, which killed 31 people last Thursday.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had conducted a “massive” attack on Kyiv and other locations with long-range, high-precision air-, land-, sea-launched weapons and drones.
The ministry also said military and energy facilities were hit in Kyiv and its surrounding region, as well as military airfields in several other Ukrainian regions. (Reuters)
