Russia hits Kyiv as Patriot missile shortage leaves air defences exposed

Kyiv,UPDATED: Jul 6, 2026 15:08 IST

Russia launched waves of missiles and drones at Kyiv early Monday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 60 in an attack that local authorities said exposed widening gaps in Ukraine's air defences. Emergency workers searched through rubble at two residential high-rise sites that suffered direct hits as officials looked for survivors.

Ukraine said all 29 ballistic missiles launched in the attack struck their targets, underlining a worsening shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles. The strike came hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that a large-scale attack was imminent, and days after another Russian strike killed 31 people in Kyiv on Thursday, the deadliest attack on the capital this year.

Ukraine's Air Force said Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at the country overnight, mainly targeting Kyiv. Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on national television: "To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception. Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in Ukraine and the world."

Ahead of a NATO summit in Ankara, Zelenskyy said on X that Ukrainian forces had performed well against drones and cruise missiles but not against Russian ballistic missiles, a shortfall he blamed on insufficient interceptor supplies. He urged US and European partners to leave the summit with strong decisions to strengthen Ukraine's air defence and protect civilian lives. "As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies' stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep 'vanquishing' residential buildings. The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror," he said in a statement after the attack.

Russia's Defence Ministry said the bombardment was retaliation for Ukraine's recent long-range strikes, which it said had caused severe fuel shortages and put pressure on President Vladimir Putin. The ministry said the attack targeted weapons factories in Kyiv, including sites it said produce drones, sea drones, armoured vehicles and missiles, as well as facilities that repair air defence systems and fuel and energy infrastructure in the city and surrounding region. Those claims could not be independently verified.

More than four years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, analysts and Western officials say Ukraine's advances in drone technology have given it an edge in recent months. They say strikes on supply routes behind the front line have slowed Russia's advance and increased the cost of its battlefield push. But Russia is now exploiting weaknesses in Ukraine's air defences, which remain heavily dependent on US Patriot systems to intercept ballistic missiles. The war in the Middle East has also stretched global supplies of Patriot interceptors, which were already limited, with Ukraine now feeling the shortage most sharply.

Russia's aerial attacks on Ukraine have repeatedly hit civilian areas. More than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the war, according to the United Nations. Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's City Military Administration, said on Telegram: "These are residential buildings. Places where people slept and lived their ordinary lives." He said a residential building in the Podilskyi district partially collapsed, while in the Darnytsia district several multi-storey buildings were damaged and people were believed to be trapped under rubble.

Residents described a chaotic and terrifying escape. Khrystyna Piatetska, 20, from Kyiv's Darnytskyi district, said she started screaming after the first strike, which was followed by a second blast that blew out the windows of her apartment building. She said the lights went out, the smell of burning filled the air and the stairwell was thick with smoke. "When we were leaving the building, bodies were lying there," Piatetska said. "When we got downstairs, cars started exploding, and we came out from under the rubble straight into the fire." Halina Ivanivna, a 61-year-old Kyiv resident, said she woke to the sound of the first strike at around 2 am and her apartment building began collapsing around her. "Everything was falling down," she said, adding that water poured through the building as smoke filled the air and emergency crews rushed to evacuate residents. About five minutes after the initial impact, a second strike hit, she said.

Meanwhile, an energy provider in Russian-occupied Crimea reported a blackout across the peninsula due to what it called "external impact". The Moscow-appointed head of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Ukrainian attacks cut power to the city early Monday, though it was later restored using backup equipment. In Russia's Yaroslavl region, Governor Mikhail Yavrayev said two people were wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Yaroslavl and that more than 70 drones were downed. He did not say whether any facilities were damaged, but Astra, an online news outlet, said the attack targeted an oil refinery and caused a fire. Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences downed 519 Ukrainian drones overnight.

The latest attack on Kyiv left at least 11 people dead, dozens injured and fresh damage to residential buildings, while also highlighting Ukraine's struggle to stop Russian ballistic missiles amid a shortage of interceptor missiles. At the same time, both sides reported overnight strikes beyond the battlefield, including in Crimea and inside Russia.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends