Videos circulating online captured thick smoke billowing into the sky and large fires raging across multiple locations in Ukraine after Russia launched a fresh wave of overnight missile and drone strikes that killed at least nine people and injured more than 30 others.The attack, which targeted Kyiv and surrounding regions, marked the second major Russian aerial assault in two days and came as Ukraine renewed urgent calls for more Western air defence systems to counter increasingly frequent missile attacks.According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia fired 27 ballistic missiles during the barrage, but only one was intercepted. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least nine people were killed and 33 wounded, including four children.One of the worst-hit areas was Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, where seven people died and 14 others were injured after strikes triggered fires and damaged homes, vehicles and other buildings. In the Solomianskyi district, a five-storey residential building was hit by falling debris, sparking a blaze. Rescue workers evacuated 35 residents, while two people were killed and eight injured, including two children.The footage shared from the aftermath showed flames engulfing buildings and thick plumes of smoke rising over the capital, highlighting the scale of the destruction caused by the strikes.Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had carried out a “massive strike” on “Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities and logistics centres in Kyiv.”Following the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his appeal for additional Patriot missile defence systems, saying the country urgently needed more interceptors to protect civilians.“Every package of ballistic missile interceptors saves the lives of our people. And every night without them results in more casualties,” Zelensky wrote on X.The renewed plea came hours after US President Donald Trump appeared to step back from an earlier public commitment to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot interceptors under licence, saying he had not yet made a final decision.Residents described an increasingly relentless pattern of attacks. Liudmyla Nakonechna, 64, said she was thrown against a wall when an explosion ripped through her apartment building.“It’s getting worse by the day,” she said. “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.”The latest strikes follow another large-scale Russian assault earlier this week that killed at least 10 people across Ukraine, underscoring Kyiv’s growing concerns over dwindling supplies of advanced Western air defence interceptors as the war enters its fifth year.
