Russian strikes expose gaps in Kyiv air defenses

Russia pounded Kyiv with missiles and drones early Monday, killing at least 11 people and exposing Ukraine’s shortage of weapons able to stop ballistic missiles hours before President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was expected to press NATO allies for stronger air defenses.

Zelenskyy said on X that damage was reported at more than 10 locations across the capital, including residential buildings, after what he called “a massive Russian attack.” He said 11 people had been confirmed dead and that “64 people have been rescued, including two children.” NPR reported the death toll at at least 12 and said 60 people were wounded.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 351 drones and 68 missiles overnight, targeting mainly Kyiv, and that all 29 ballistic missiles fired in the attack struck their targets. The result underscored Ukraine’s dependence on U.S.-made Patriot systems to intercept ballistic missiles, which it can rarely shoot down by other means.

“To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception,” air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on national television. “Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in Ukraine and the world.”

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had performed well against drones and cruise missiles but struggled against ballistic missiles because of insufficient interceptor supplies. Ahead of a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, which President Donald Trump is set to attend, he urged the United States and European countries to provide more help.

“It is critically important that the world — first and foremost the United States and our European partners — come out of the NATO Summit in Ankara with strong decisions in support of our air defense, and thus the protection of ordinary people’s lives,” Zelenskyy said.

“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep ‘vanquishing’ residential buildings,” he added. “The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that Ukraine urgently needed more air defense and pledged to discuss the issue in Ankara. Accusing Russia of having “blindly attacked civilians from the air,” she said Europe would “keep increasing the pressure until Russia ends the bloodshed.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the attack targeted weapons factories in Kyiv, including sites it said make drones, sea drones, armored vehicles and missiles, as well as facilities repairing air defense systems and fuel and energy infrastructure in and around the city. The claims could not be independently verified.

Kyiv officials described extensive damage in residential areas. Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration, said a residential building in the Podilskyi district partially collapsed. In the Darnytsia district, several multistory buildings were damaged and people were believed trapped under rubble.

“These are residential buildings. Places where people slept and lived their ordinary lives,” Tkachenko wrote on Telegram.

Khrystyna Piatetska, 20, who lives in the Darnytskyi district, said a second blast blew out the windows in her apartment building after an initial strike. “When we were leaving the building, bodies were lying there,” she said. “When we got downstairs, cars started exploding, and we came out from under the rubble straight into the fire.”

Another resident, 61-year-old Halina Ivanivna, said she woke around 2 a.m. as her apartment building began collapsing. “Everything was falling down,” she said. About five minutes later, she said, a second strike hit.

The attack followed a Russian strike Thursday that killed 31 people in Kyiv, the deadliest attack on the capital this year. Russia’s Defense Ministry said that bombardment was retaliation for Ukraine’s recent long-range strikes, which have caused severe fuel shortages and pressured President Vladimir Putin.

Elsewhere Monday, an energy provider in Russian-occupied Crimea reported a peninsula-wide blackout due to “external impact.” The Moscow-appointed head of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Ukrainian attacks cut power to the city early Monday before backup equipment restored it.

In Russia’s Yaroslavl region, Gov. Mikhail Yavrayev said two people were wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack and that more than 70 drones were downed. The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 519 Ukrainian drones overnight.