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Kyiv hit, Patriots short
Russian attacks on Kyiv and its surrounding region killed 17 people and wounded dozens, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday, as Ukraine’s depleted air defenses failed to stop any of Moscow’s incoming missiles overnight.
“Russian attacks on Kyiv and its surrounding region killed 17 people and wounded dozens”
The barrage, which lasted about two hours, came as Moscow exploited Ukraine’s critical shortage of interceptors for the U.S.-made Patriot systems, the sole air defense weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles.
Zelenskyy said the targets included a brewery, a warehouse for construction material, and a mail sorting office, and he warned that “Ballistic interceptors are what could have saved the lives of those killed today.”
Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted 98 of the 115 drones fired by Russia overnight, but they failed to down a single one of the 24 ballistic missiles, according to preliminary data from the Ukrainian air force.
The BBC reported that Zelenskyy said “ballistic interceptor missiles are what could have saved the lives of those killed today,” as local authorities said more than 40 people were injured in Kyiv and surrounding areas.
Zelenskyy presses partners
Zelenskyy said on social media that delays in supplying ballistic interceptors lead directly to “such horrific casualties and destruction,” and he urged other countries, especially the U.S., to send more of the ammunition made scarcer by the Iran war.
The BBC said Zelenskyy warned that the shortage of interceptor missiles “only encourages Russia to launch attacks that cost lives,” and it tied the plea to his late July meeting with Donald Trump at the White House.
Foreign Policy described Zelenskyy’s argument that “Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today,” and it said the U.S. had stopped providing Patriot interceptors to Ukraine as it kept them for its own use during the Iran war.
The Guardian reported that Nato’s secretary general said Nato was working to get Ukraine the air defences it “urgently needs,” after Kyiv failed to shoot down a single Russian missile in an attack on Wednesday.
In the same Guardian account, Zelenskyy told Nato’s Mark Rutte that “Literally every day, people’s lives here in Ukraine depend on the resolve of our partners in Europe and the United States.”
What comes next
Ukraine’s immediate next steps, as described by PBS, include seeking permission to make Patriot ammunition in Ukraine or to win permission from Elon Musk to use his Starlink system to guide strikes inside Russia that can hit missile launchers.
“or win permission from Elon Musk to use his Starlink satellite communications system”
The BBC said Zelenskyy met Trump in late July at the White House seeking approval to grant licenses for domestic production of Patriot missiles, and it reported that Trump later said the United States must be “very cautious” about granting Ukraine a license to produce these missiles.
Foreign Policy said Zelenskyy spoke separately with Nato chief Mark Rutte and British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting about new avenues to secure missile interceptors, and it described Ukraine convening its national security council to brainstorm ways to bolster anti-ballistic technologies.
The Guardian reported that Russia launched 24 ballistic missiles in an overnight attack on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people, and it said preliminary data showed defenses shot down 98 of the 115 drones fired by Russia overnight but none of the ballistic missiles.
In the BBC’s account of the wider political response, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the “horrific atrocities” Russia committed in the Kyiv region and announced the transfer of an additional 1.4 billion euros to the war effort in Ukraine.
