Russian strikes kill children as Ukraine seeks Patriot missiles

Russian missile and drone attacks killed at least eight people in Ukraine, including two children, local officials said Thursday, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Moscow appeared to be preparing a major overnight assault.

The strikes hit targets across the country, from Kyiv to western Ukraine, and prompted Poland to mobilize military aircraft as a “preventative measure,” its armed forces said on X. Al Jazeera reported the death toll as at least seven, while the BBC, citing local officials, reported eight deaths.

The deadliest reported strike was near Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown in central Ukraine, where a ballistic missile hit a private house and killed six people, local officials said. Two girls, ages 5 and 12, were among the dead. Eight other people were injured, including two children, and officials warned the number of casualties could rise.

Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s defence council, described it as a direct strike by a Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile. “A dark night,” he wrote on Telegram, saying the missile had been launched from Russia’s Voronezh region and struck the home of a large family as emergency workers cleared rubble.

In Kyiv, one person died after explosions were reported overnight. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said fires broke out in three non-residential buildings. Multiple explosions were heard in the capital at 1:18 a.m. Thursday local time, the Kyiv Independent reported, according to Al Jazeera.

The mayor of Poltava also reported one death on Telegram after saying a Nova Poshta postal terminal had been attacked. In Lviv, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said explosions were heard and residential buildings were damaged. He said several people were injured, some were trapped under a building, and residents were helping rescuers remove rubble.

Missiles reached western Ukraine, the BBC reported, and several other cities came under attack. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces struck what it described as military facilities across Ukraine, including in Kyiv, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk. It also said it hit three cargo ships near Odesa, accusing them of carrying weapons and military equipment.

The attacks came shortly after Zelenskyy returned from Washington, where he met U.S. President Donald Trump and urged the United States to grant Ukraine licences to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. Zelenskyy said Wednesday there was “a high probability that the attack will occur tonight” and urged Ukrainians to heed air raid alerts.

“The protection of people’s lives depends directly on their willingness, or lack of willingness, to provide air defence missiles,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, repeating his call for allies to strengthen Ukraine’s anti-missile defences.

Al Jazeera reported that Zelenskyy said Trump had agreed to give Ukraine licences to make Patriot missiles. After their White House meeting, Trump posted photos on social media and wrote: “Many things were discussed. The meeting went very well!”

The Patriot is one of the few air defence systems able to intercept ballistic missiles, which Russia has increasingly used against Ukrainian cities. Al Jazeera reported that Ukraine is short of PAC-3 interceptor missiles.

Inside Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack set a warehouse belonging to online retailer Wildberries on fire in the western city of Penza, regional Governor Oleg Melnichenko said on Telegram. One person was injured. Al Jazeera reported that about 200 people were evacuated. The company’s sites have been frequent targets of Ukrainian attacks. Zelenskyy has accused Wildberries of trading in goods used to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an accusation Russia rejects.