KYIV, Ukraine – Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone assault across Ukraine early Monday, killing at least 22 people and injuring dozens more in one of the latest waves of attacks that Ukrainian officials say exposed critical weaknesses in the country’s air defenses.
Kyiv bore the brunt of the overnight bombardment, with authorities reporting 15 deaths and 56 injuries in the capital. Another seven people were killed and 29 wounded across the surrounding Kyiv region, according to Ukraine’s emergency services.
Emergency crews searched through the rubble of residential buildings struck during the attacks as rescue operations continued into the day.
The assault comes more than four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion and days before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to press allies for additional air defense support at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
Ukraine Highlights Critical Air Defense Shortage
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 351 drones and 68 missiles overnight, primarily targeting Kyiv. According to the military, all 29 ballistic missiles fired during the attack reached their intended targets.
Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said Ukraine continues to face a severe shortage of interceptor missiles capable of destroying ballistic missiles.
“To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception,” 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 air defenses remained effective against drones and cruise missiles but lacked sufficient Patriot interceptor missiles to stop ballistic attacks.
“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep ‘vanquishing’ residential buildings. The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Russia is intensifying ballistic missile strikes while taking advantage of the global shortage of Patriot interceptors.
“Fewer such missiles are produced worldwide each month than the enemy fires at Ukraine in that same period,” Fedorov said.
Russia Says It Targeted Military Facilities
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the overnight operation targeted Ukrainian weapons factories in Kyiv, including facilities producing drones, armored vehicles and missiles, along with sites repairing air defense systems and energy infrastructure.
Those claims could not be independently verified.
The ministry also warned that increased Western deliveries of missiles, drones and ammunition to Ukraine would be met with stronger retaliatory strikes.
Ukrainian authorities said many of the strikes hit residential neighborhoods.
“These are residential buildings. Places where people slept and lived their ordinary lives,” Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko wrote on Telegram.
Officials said a residential building partially collapsed in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district, while several apartment blocks in the Darnytsia district were damaged, with some residents believed trapped beneath the debris.
In the Kyiv suburb of Vyshneve, about 600 residents were evacuated because of the danger posed by unexploded munitions.
According to the United Nations, more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Residents Describe Overnight Destruction
Residents recounted scenes of destruction as multiple explosions struck the capital overnight.
Khrystyna Piatetska, 20, said a second explosion shattered windows in her apartment building after the 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 was awakened around 2 a.m. before parts of her apartment building began collapsing.
“Everything was falling down,” she said, describing smoke, flooding and a second strike that followed minutes later.
Ukraine Expands Long-Range Strikes Inside Russia
While Russia targeted Ukraine’s capital, Ukrainian forces continued long-range drone operations against military and energy infrastructure inside Russia.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 613 of 625 Ukrainian drones launched overnight.
Ukraine’s military said its Special Operations Forces struck the Omsk oil refinery in western Siberia, nearly 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) from Ukraine’s border. The refinery is considered Russia’s largest, with a refining capacity of about 460,000 barrels per day.
Omsk regional Gov. Vitaly Khotsenko confirmed the attack but said most drones had been intercepted and reported no casualties.
Gary Peach, an oil markets analyst at Energy Intelligence, said the refinery accounted for roughly 12% of Russia’s refining output as of late June.
“Depending on the extent of the damage, a sustained outage of even part of Omsk’s capacity will exacerbate Russia’s woes on the domestic fuel market and make the need to find import replacements even more urgent,” Peach said.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian energy facilities, contributing to fuel shortages reported in several regions.
Attacks Extend Across Russian Territory
Ukraine also reported strikes on multiple energy and military facilities supporting Russia’s war effort.
In Russian-occupied Crimea, an energy provider reported widespread power outages following Ukrainian attacks. Sevastopol’s Moscow-appointed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said electricity was restored using backup systems.
Russian officials also reported Ukrainian drone attacks in Yaroslavl, where two people were injured. Regional Gov. Mikhail Yevrayev said more than 70 drones had been intercepted, while the Astra news outlet reported a fire at an oil refinery.
In Russia’s Leningrad region, Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said Ukrainian drones damaged infrastructure at the Luga military training ground and in areas near the Baltic Sea ports of Ust-Luga and Vysotsk.
The latest exchanges underscore the growing reach of both sides’ long-range strike capabilities as the conflict continues to evolve, with Ukraine seeking additional Western air defense support while expanding attacks against military and energy infrastructure deep inside Russian territory.
This report is based on reporting by The Associated Press.
Article Topics: Ukraine | Russia | Kyiv | Missile Attack | NATO | Air Defense | Patriot Missiles | Russia-Ukraine War
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