Ukraine warns of interceptor missile shortage as 19 killed in Kyiv region

Ukraine warns of interceptor missile shortage as 19 killed in Kyiv region

8 minutes ago
Sarah Rainsford, Eastern Europe correspondent, Kyiv and
Jamie Whitehead



Explosions in Kyiv during deadly Russian overnight strikes


The Ukrainian Air Force says a "serious shortage" of interceptor missiles meant none of the 23 ballistic missiles fired by Russia at Kyiv on Sunday night were shot down.

At least 13 people were killed in the second large-scale Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital in a week, officials said. Six more were killed in the wider Kyiv region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed for allies to take "strong decisions" at the this week's Nato summit to provide Kyiv with air defences.

After the strikes, he said the Ukrainian military had been successful in intercepting cruise missiles and drones – but not ballistic missiles.

Sunday's "massive Russian attack" consisted of 68 missiles and 351 strike drones, he said in a post on X. The air force shot down or suppressed 37 missiles and 326 drones, it said.

Zelensky warned that Moscow would continue to hit residential buildings as long as defensive Patriot missiles "remain in our allies' stockpiles".

It was another frightening night for people in the capital, with loud explosions and the boom of Ukraine's air defences in action.

Widespread destruction was visible on Monday morning. Three large blocks of flats in the city have partially collapsed, some were hit directly by missiles.

Helicopters have been shuttling back and forth in the sky, carrying water from the river to douse fires in the city.

Kyiv's top military administrator, Timur Tkachenko, said 56 were people injured in the capital, with Zelenksy saying there were 16 injuries in the wider region.

At the site of one missile strike, in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv, rescue teams have been working in the ruins of an apartment block with a big hole blown through its middle.

Specialists have been using sniffer dogs to try to find the missing among the wreckage as cranes lift giant slabs of concrete from collapsed flats, sending bricks crashing to the ground.

A woman, crying on a bench, was too distraught to talk but a team helping her said two of her relatives were buried in the rubble.

The BBC spoke to residents who have lost everything, as they queued to register their loss with the police.

One woman, whose flat was on the eight floor that has now vanished, began to speak only to have to turn away as she sobbed. People here are already drained by four punishing years of this war, and now the aerial attacks are getting worse.

"After the first blast, nearby, the glass shattered and hit us, almost on our heads. Then everything was shaking," another woman, Olena, said.

She admitted that she did not go to the bomb shelter when the sirens wailed because she was exhausted and wanted to sleep before work.

"I feel like I have calmed down, but I am still trembling all over."

Olena had a question of her own about the fact that Ukraine did not manage to stop a single ballistic missile this time.

"The missiles hit our houses, and that's terrible. Really scary. It seems we have nothing to intercept them with. So where are our partners? What's happening? That's my question," she said.

"Glass shattered and hit us" after a blast, Olena told the BBC


Hours before the latest strikes, Zelensky had warned that Moscow was preparing a second "massive strike" on Kyiv following its attacks on Thursday that killed 30 people.

Ukraine accused Moscow of deliberately attacking civilian areas in that attack, which left at least 30 people dead. Russia said it had targeted military and energy bases in retaliation for recent Ukrainian strikes on power stations and energy facilities in Russian territory.

Kyiv has kept up its drone attacks on critical Russian energy facilities, with power being cut off temporarily in the city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Russia's Ministry of Defence said Kyiv had launched 625 long-range strike drones and that its forces had shot down 613 of them.

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Several reports suggest Zelensky will meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Nato summit, which begins in Ankara in Turkey on Tuesday.

In his post on X on Monday, Zelensky said it was "critically important" that the US and Ukraine's European partners come to the summit "with strong decisions in support of our air defense, and thus the protection of ordinary people's lives".

"The United States and Europe have enough power to stop this terror," he said.

President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine's "urgent" need for more air defence would be discussed at the summit.