Russia launched one of its heaviest missile and drone attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks early Saturday, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country’s air defences had effectively run out of interceptor missiles for US-made Patriot systems.
The overnight bombardment came just two days after another deadly Russian attack killed at least 10 people across Ukraine, highlighting Moscow’s intensifying aerial campaign as Kyiv struggles with dwindling Western air-defence supplies. Ukraine, meanwhile, claimed it had struck three Russian oil refineries and sunk a sanctioned Russian cargo ship in the Black Sea in one of its deepest retaliatory strikes inside Russian-controlled territory.
Kyiv hit by one of the biggest missile barrages
News agency Reuters reported that Russia fired 35 missiles, including 27 ballistic missiles, and 185 drones at Ukraine overnight. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces managed to intercept only one ballistic missile because Patriot interceptor stocks had been exhausted.
“Every package of ballistic missile interceptors saves the lives of our people. And every night without them results in more casualties,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, appealing again to Western allies for urgent military assistance.
Reuters journalists reported hearing more than a dozen explosions across Kyiv during several waves of attacks.
The Associated Press reported that the strikes appeared aimed at exploiting Ukraine’s critical shortage of Western-supplied anti-ballistic missile defences, dimming hopes of any near-term diplomatic breakthrough in the more than four-year-old war.
Death toll rises to 10
According to Reuters, seven people were killed in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, while two others died in the Solomianskyi district after a residential building was hit.
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Another person was killed in the surrounding Kyiv region, bringing the total death toll to 10.
Dozens more were injured, including four children who suffered shrapnel wounds and lacerations.
AP reported that a five-storey residential building in Solomianskyi district caught fire after being struck by debris. Emergency workers evacuated 35 residents from the upper floors.
Damage was also reported in Shevchenkivskyi district, where firefighters extinguished another blaze, while commercial and residential buildings were hit elsewhere in the capital. Lithuania’s embassy in Kyiv also sustained damage after missiles landed nearby.
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Residents recount terrifying night
Residents described waking to explosions shortly after air-raid sirens sounded.
“I looked at my phone, it was 1:30 and sirens (blared), I was lying dressed in my bed, I got up immediately. And at once explosions started — boom, boom,” 68-year-old Kyiv resident Nadiia Komarova told Reuters.
“Our ceilings have started to crumble. My window here is smashed, and everything has fallen inside.”
Another resident, 64-year-old Liudmyla Nakonechna, told AP she had been sheltering in a basement when another wave of missiles struck.
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“I ran into the corridor and was standing there when the bathroom door was blown off its hinges and struck me in the leg.”
“It’s getting worse by the day. Whereas before there was an attack once every two weeks, or maybe once a week, now it happens practically every day. It is incredibly hard to bear this psychologically.”
Reuters television footage showed rescue workers carrying bodies in black bags while firefighters battled blazes around destroyed apartment buildings and burnt-out vehicles.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city was working to build more bomb shelters as Russian attacks intensified.
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Zelenskyy: Ukraine has no Patriot interceptors left
The latest barrage came as Zelenskyy renewed calls for additional Patriot interceptor missiles from the United States and its allies.
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World · Russia-Ukraine war
Russia pounds Kyiv as Ukraine runs out of Patriot interceptors
Russia fired 35 missiles and 185 drones at Ukraine overnight, killing at least 10 in Kyiv. Only one ballistic missile was stopped — Zelensky says there are no Patriot interceptors left.
.Developing · Aug 1, 2026
The Kyiv attack, by the numbers
1
ballistic missile intercepted
Per Zelensky and Kyiv officials (Reuters, Euronews, Al Jazeera). Toll reported as at least 10 (some outlets say 9), with 30+ wounded, including children; a school and the Lithuanian Embassy were also damaged.
Why Kyiv couldn’t intercept the missiles
Only one of 27 ballistic missiles was stopped — “simply because there are no interceptors for the Patriot system,” Zelensky said. Russia also fired 8 other missiles and 185 drones.
The Patriot is the main system Ukraine has that can intercept ballistic missiles; Zelensky says its interceptor stocks are exhausted.
How Patriot protects cities
How interception works
Incoming missile ↓
.
.
.
.
Intercepted
.
Radar
.
↑ Interceptor
1
An incoming ballistic missile arcs toward the city.
2
The Patriot radar detects and tracks the target.
3
An interceptor missile is launched to meet it.
4
Mid-air interception destroys the warhead before it lands.
US-made systemUsed against ballistic missilesUkraine says stocks exhausted
The current problem: Ukraine says it has no Patriot interceptor missiles left — so the sequence above can’t happen, and ballistic missiles get through.
Where the strikes landed
Russia struck Kyiv & region
Darnytskyi district left bank, Kyiv
7 killed
Solomianskyi district Kyiv
2 killed
Kyiv region outside the city
1 killed
Lithuanian Embassy Kyiv
damaged
Ukraine struck inside Russia & the Black Sea
Bashkortostan (Ufa) ~1,600 km away
3 refineries hit
Black Sea near Novorossiysk
Yanina sunk
District tolls per Ukrainian prosecutors; Ukraine’s strikes per Zelensky and the SBU (Kyiv Post, Ukrainska Pravda). Schematic list, not to scale.
Russia vs Ukraine, overnight
Russia fired
35 missiles (27 ballistic)
185 attack drones
Waves of strikes on Kyiv
At least 10 killed, 30+ wounded
Ukraine hit back
3 Bashneft oil refineries in Ufa
Container ship Yanina sunk
Long-range drone & naval-drone strikes
Targets ~1,600 km inside Russia
Both sides’ claims as reported; Russia says all 17 Yanina crew were rescued. Casualty and damage figures are provisional.
Why Patriot missiles matter
.The only system Ukraine has that can reliably intercept ballistic missiles.
.Ukraine says its interceptor stock is exhausted, leaving cities exposed.
.The US is weighing a licence for Ukraine to build Patriots — but Trump said Friday no deal is agreed and such technology is “hard to give away.”
.Zelensky is appealing for urgent supplies from the US and Europe.
“Every package of ballistic missile interceptors saves the lives of our people. And every night without them results in more casualties.”
— Volodymyr Zelensky, on Telegram
Sources: Reuters · Euronews · Al Jazeera · CNN · Kyiv Post · Ukrainska Pravda · statements by President Zelensky and Kyiv officials. A developing story; figures are provisional and may change.
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Reuters reported that supplies of Patriot interceptors originally intended for Ukraine have increasingly been diverted to the US military and Washington’s allies in the Gulf following the conflict with Iran.
“The battle for the skies will define the trajectory of this war,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, urging Ukraine’s partners to urgently replenish Kyiv’s air-defence stocks.
AP reported that Zelenskyy had spoken with US Vice President JD Vance on Friday following his meeting earlier this week with President Donald Trump in Washington.
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“The Russian air strikes on our country continue and air defence, specifically interceptors for Patriot systems against ballistic missiles, remains a top priority,” Zelenskyy said after the conversation.
The BBC reported that Trump, speaking at Camp David on Friday, said the US had not yet decided whether to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missile systems under licence, despite suggesting such an arrangement during last month’s NATO summit.
“We have to be very careful about letting somebody build them,” Trump said, describing the technology transfer as “a big step”.
Russia and Ukraine trade long-range strikes
As Russia intensified attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine struck targets deep inside Russian territory.
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Reuters reported that Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces hit infrastructure linked to three oil refineries in Russia’s Bashkortostan region, roughly 1,600 kilometres from Ukraine, along with other facilities supporting Moscow’s war effort.
AP separately reported that a Ukrainian drone set an oil refinery in Ufa ablaze, citing Russian news outlet Astra.
Zelenskyy also announced that Ukraine had sunk the sanctioned Russian container ship Yanina in the Black Sea.
The BBC reported that Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom confirmed the vessel had been attacked but said it had been carrying civilian cargo, including frozen food and construction materials. Rosatom added that all 17 crew members were rescued.
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Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev condemned the strike, calling it “piracy and robbery.”
Fighting continues on multiple fronts
Elsewhere, AP reported that a Russian airstrike killed one person and wounded five others in Kherson in southern Ukraine.
In Russian-occupied Crimea, Moscow-appointed officials said a Ukrainian drone attack killed a 60-year-old woman and wounded two others in Sevastopol.
The latest escalation comes as fighting continues along roughly 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) of frontline. Reuters noted that although Russian advances have slowed significantly this year, Moscow has intensified long-range missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities while Kyiv increasingly targets Russian energy infrastructure, logistics hubs and military assets deep inside Russian territory.
Both Russia and Ukraine continue to deny deliberately targeting civilians.
(With inputs from Reuters, AP and BBC)
