Russia hammered Ukraine with missiles and drones early on Monday, killing at least 26 people and exposing Kyiv's critical shortage of U.S.-made interceptors, officials said, just days after the deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital this year.
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 U.S. 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 its 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 U.S. licences to manufacture U.S. 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 Turkey, 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 U.S. and Europe have the power to stop this terror."
Ukraine intercepted 37 other missiles and more than 90% of the 351 drones used during Monday's attack, the air force said.
SEARCH FOR SURVIVORS
At least 16 people were killed in Kyiv, the Emergency Services said on Telegram as search and rescue operations proceeded.
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 Zaporizhzhia region in southeast Ukraine said a drone strike on a filling station killed two people later on Monday.
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.
Reuters television footage showed what appeared to be human remains trapped beneath concrete debris on an upper floor of a building.
The bodies of an entire family — two parents and a child — were pulled from rubble there, said Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
Monday's attack came days after this year's deadliest strike on Kyiv, which killed 31 people last Thursday.
RUSSIA STEPS UP AIR WAR
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.
Moscow has escalated an air war this year as its battlefield progress has slowed to a virtual crawl, hampered by Ukrainian long-range attacks on its military logistics and oil industry.
Ukraine has also retaken territory in some areas along the 1,200-km (746-mile) frontline, despite Russia encroaching on the strategically important eastern city of Kostiantynivka.
Zelensky on Saturday denied a Russian claim that the city had been captured.
On Monday, Kyiv's military said it had struck three Russian oil refineries — including the country's largest in Omsk, more than 2,414 km (1,500 miles) away — as well as two "shadow fleet" vessels in the Sea of Azov.
Zelensky called the strike on Omsk "an important achievement" for Ukraine's military.
Reuters
