At least nine people were killed in Russian ballistic missile strikes on Ukraine, local officials say early on Saturday.
The State Emergency Service reported another 23 civilians injured in the attack on the capital Kyiv, adding that fires broke out across the city and power outages were reported in several areas.
Moscow’s escalation of ballistic missile attacks has forced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to call for urgently-needed interceptor weapons.
Just two days before, a suspected Russian cruise missile had struck Poland amid a widespread Ukrainian offensive, killing eight people in a village near Kryvyih Rih.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed a ballistic missile attack, noting more than ten explosions on the evening of the attack. A residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district was partially destroyed, trapping residents inside.
The emergency services said at least seven people died in a strike in the Darnytskyi district, with another 14 injured, including two children. In the Solomyanskyi district, two people died and eight others were injured, as a five‑storey residential building was partially destroyed.
The attack comes after President Zelensky met with former U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington DC earlier this week to urge the U.S. to grant Ukraine a licence to produce Patriot interceptor missiles.
Asked about the missiles during a cabinet meeting at Camp David, Trump said the U.S. had not agreed to Ukraine building Patriot missiles but that talks were ongoing, stressing that the U.S. had to be “very careful about letting somebody build them.”
Zelensky said in a post on X that air defence – specifically Patriot interceptors against ballistic missiles – remains a top priority, as Russia’s air attacks continue unabated.
Meanwhile Ukraine has escalated its retaliatory strikes, targeting logistics hubs used by Russians to buy military equipment and disrupting supplies to the Russian army.
