Russia launched a wave of missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and its surrounding region early on Wednesday, killing at least 17 and wounding 44, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. 

The attacks began after midnight with air raid sirens sounding across the capital for more than an hour. Ukraine’s air force had earlier warned that ballistic missiles were incoming.

According to an air force report, Ukraine was unable to shoot down a single Russian missile during an overnight attack involving 115 drones and 28 high-speed missiles, including ballistic ones.

In his post on X, Zelenskyy said that ‘ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today’.

“It is very important that our partners understand that delays in supplying them, or an unwillingness to provide anti-ballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction,” he added.

Kyiv’s military administration said seven sites in the city were hit. The strikes damaged residential buildings and warehouses:

“The enemy is once again deliberately striking civilians and civilian infrastructure,” it said on Telegram.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one warehouse near the city centre was destroyed and rescue teams pulled two people from the debris.

“There may still be people under the rubble,” he wrote. “Search and rescue operations are proceeding.”

Klitschko said early reports of a burning 20-story apartment building were inaccurate. But a large fire did break out on the edge of the city. Debris from a downed missile landed near a residential building.

The attack also caused an ammonia leak, which emergency crews worked to contain.

Ukrainian air defence units worked to shoot down the incoming missiles.

Russia has struck Kyiv several times in the past month.

On Saturday, Russian strikes on the capital and its suburbs killed 10 people and wounded more than 30. That same day, Ukrainian drones sank a Russian ship in the Black Sea.

Both sides have stepped up long-range strikes in recent weeks. Russia used more than twice as many missiles in July as before, according to an analysis by the French AFP news agency. Ukraine has also increased drone attacks on Russian oil, gas, and supply sites.

On Tuesday, strikes in the Moscow region killed five people and wounded 10 others. The attacks hit warehouses used by the Russian retailer Wildberries. Moscow’s mayor said the city’s air defences shot down at least 10 drones on Wednesday.

Earlier, Zelenskyy has asked allies for more Patriot missile interceptors, saying the lack of these defences ‘only encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives’.

Zelenskyy met with US President Donald Trump last Tuesday to lobby Washington for licenses to build Patriot systems inside Ukraine.

United Nations human rights monitors have raised concerns over increased civilian deaths in the war, which are now at their highest level since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022.

Russia and Ukraine both deny targeting civilians in the war.

Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von ​der Leyen said: “Once again we wake up to the news of horrible atrocities by Russia through its aerial attacks on Ukraine.”

In a post on X, she emphasised that Russia must pay for the destruction it has caused.

“And we are using the proceeds from the immobilised Russian assets to make sure it does,” Von der Leyen wrote, announcing that the European Union will use €1.4bn (US$1.6bn) in interest generated from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

The money came from interest on cash balances, which are part of the Russian central bank’s assets that were frozen by the EU in the wake of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

DW