Ukrainian air defenses shot down just one of 27 Russian ballistic missiles fired at Kyiv overnight, a failure President Volodymyr Zelensky attributed to a shortage of Patriot interceptor rounds after the barrage killed at least nine people and wounded up to 30, including four children.
Russia launched 35 missiles and 185 attack drones in the assault, which also targeted the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava regions. The strikes damaged 18 residential buildings, a school, the Lithuanian embassy and infrastructure sites, with fires and casualties reported across five Kyiv districts, including seven dead in Darnytsia. Moscow said the strikes targeted Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises and claimed its own defenses destroyed 274 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The attack was Kyiv's second major strike in days, following a Thursday barrage that killed nine. US President Donald Trump said discussions on licensing Patriot missile production in Ukraine were ongoing, though he later expressed uncertainty about granting such a license. An air force analysis found Russia fired 376 missiles in July, more than double the June total.