At least 17 people were killed and 44 others injured overnight Wednesday when a barrage of Russian missile and drone strikes targeted Kyiv and the surrounding region, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The attack was the latest in a series of large-scale Russian ballistic missile strikes that have become near-routine this summer. The intensified barrages are exploiting Ukraine's critical shortage of interceptor missiles for the U.S.-made Patriot systems, the sole air defense system in its arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles. Zelenskyy has pleaded with other countries to send more of the ammunition made scarcer by the Iran war.
"Ballistic interceptors are what could have saved the lives of those killed today," Zelenskyy said on social media. "It is very important for our partners to understand that delays in supplying them, or a reluctance to hand over anti-ballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction."
With U.S.-led peace efforts apparently stalled, Ukraine has stepped up its deep strikes on key Russian targets such as oil refineries in an effort to compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate. Zelenskyy has accepted an unconditional cease-fire demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump, but Putin has refused.
