Russia launched a massive overnight barrage of missiles and drones across Ukraine early Monday, killing at least 22 people and exposing growing vulnerabilities in the country’s air defence network more than four years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian officials said.
The assault highlighted Kyiv’s urgent need for additional US-made Patriot interceptor missiles after every ballistic missile launched by Russia reached its intended target. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to press allies for more air defence support at this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
Kyiv bears the brunt of the assault
The capital Kyiv suffered the heaviest damage, with 15 people killed and 56 others injured, according to city military administration chief Tymur Tkachenko. Another seven people lost their lives in the wider Kyiv region, while 29 others were injured, Ukraine’s emergency services said.
Rescue teams continued searching through the rubble of residential buildings that were directly hit, hoping to find survivors trapped beneath the debris.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said the latest strikes were carried out in response to Ukraine’s recent long-range attacks, which Moscow claims have caused fuel shortages and increased pressure on President Vladimir Putin.
The attack came just days after another Russian strike killed 31 people in Kyiv, making it the deadliest assault on the capital this year.
Patriot missile shortage under spotlight
While Ukraine has gained an advantage in drone warfare by targeting Russian supply lines and slowing battlefield advances, analysts say Russia is increasingly exploiting weaknesses in Kyiv’s air defence system.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 351 drones and 68 missiles overnight, primarily targeting Kyiv. Officials added that all 29 ballistic missiles fired during the attack struck their intended targets.
“To intercept ballistic missiles, we need the appropriate interception systems,” Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said during a televised briefing. “Russia is clearly taking advantage of the serious shortage of interceptor missiles, both in Ukraine and globally.”
Ahead of the NATO summit, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian air defences had successfully countered drones and cruise missiles but remained unable to effectively stop ballistic missiles because of insufficient interceptor supplies.
“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia will continue destroying residential buildings,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “The United States and Europe have enough capability to stop this terror.”
Russia warned that any increase in Western military assistance would be met with stronger retaliatory strikes.
Ukraine’s Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov accused Moscow of deliberately intensifying its ballistic missile campaign while exploiting the global shortage of Patriot interceptors.
“Fewer interceptor missiles are produced worldwide each month than the number of ballistic missiles Russia launches at Ukraine over the same period,” he said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed the strikes targeted weapons factories in Kyiv, including facilities producing drones, armoured vehicles and missiles, along with sites repairing air defence systems and energy infrastructure. Those claims could not be independently verified.
Civilian areas devastated
Ukrainian authorities said several residential neighbourhoods suffered extensive damage despite Russia’s claims of targeting military infrastructure.
A residential building in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district partially collapsed, while several apartment blocks in the Darnytsia district were damaged, with fears that residents remained trapped beneath the rubble.
In nearby Vyshneve, around 600 residents were evacuated after authorities warned of unexploded ordnance in the area.
According to the United Nations, more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since the war began.
“These are ordinary residential buildings where people were sleeping and living their normal lives,” Tkachenko said.
Residents recount terrifying night
Residents described scenes of panic as explosions ripped through the capital overnight.
Twenty-year-old Khrystyna Piatetska, who lives in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, said the first blast was quickly followed by another explosion that shattered the windows of her apartment building.
Power was cut, smoke filled the stairwell and the smell of burning spread through the building as residents rushed to escape.
“When we came out of the building, there were bodies lying outside,” she said. “Cars began exploding, and we walked out from beneath the rubble straight into the flames.”
Sixty-one-year-old Halina Ivanivna said she woke to the first explosion around 2 am before watching parts of her apartment building collapse around her.
“Everything was falling apart,” she recalled, adding that smoke and water quickly filled the building before a second strike hit just minutes later.
Ukraine strikes deep inside Russia
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences intercepted 613 out of 625 Ukrainian drones launched overnight.
Ukraine, meanwhile, said its Special Operations Forces struck the Omsk oil refinery in western Siberia, roughly 2,500 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. If confirmed, it would mark Ukraine’s deepest strike yet against Russian oil infrastructure.
Omsk regional governor Vitaly Khotsenko confirmed the refinery had been targeted but said most drones were intercepted and there were no casualties.
The Omsk refinery is Russia’s largest, processing around 460,000 barrels of oil per day and accounting for roughly 12% of the country’s refining capacity.
Analysts said any prolonged disruption could further worsen Russia’s ongoing fuel shortages, which have already led to rationing and long queues at petrol stations in several regions following repeated Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure.
Ukraine also claimed responsibility for attacks on several energy and military facilities in Russian-occupied Crimea and other regions supporting Moscow’s war effort.
In Crimea, authorities reported widespread power outages following the attacks, while officials in Russia’s Yaroslavl and Leningrad regions also confirmed drone strikes that damaged infrastructure and triggered fires near key industrial and port facilities.
