Russian strikes on Kyiv kill 17 as civilian warehouses bear the brunt

Kyiv,UPDATED: Aug 5, 2026 13:14 IST

Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region killed 17 people and injured 44 overnight into Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. He said the attack mainly targeted warehouses used by civilian businesses, along with infrastructure and a railway station.

According to Zelenskyy, Russia launched 24 ballistic missiles, four other missiles identified as either hypersonic Zircons or supersonic Oniks, and 115 drones, many of them jet-powered. He said the strikes hit places "with no connection to the war", including a brewing company, building materials warehouses and civilian logistics facilities.

The attack was the latest in a series of large Russian ballistic missile barrages that have become near-routine this summer. Ukraine has a limited stock of interceptor missiles for its US-made Patriot systems, the only air defence systems it has that can shoot down ballistic missiles. That has made large volleys such as Wednesday's difficult to stop, even as Ukraine has stepped up deep strikes on Russian oil refineries and energy infrastructure.

"Ballistic interceptors are what could have saved the lives of those killed today," Zelenskyy said on Telegram. "It is very important for our partners to understand that delays in supplying them, or a reluctance to hand over anti-ballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction."

Ukraine's emergency service said fires broke out at several locations in the wider Kyiv region, including Brovary, Bucha and Fastiv districts. Large warehouse fires burned in the city of Brovary and in the villages of Velyka Dymerka, Kvitneve and Peremoha. A fire involving vehicles at an enterprise in Fastiv district was put out. In Bucha district, crews fought a warehouse fire in the village of Chaiky after extinguishing a separate blaze at a logistics facility in Sofiivska Borshchahivka.

In Kyiv itself, the city military administration said emergency crews extinguished all fires caused by the strikes in the Obolonskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, Holosiivskyi and Desnianskyi districts.

Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine's president on defence technology development, said the war of attrition had entered a new phase. "The enemy is attacking everything indiscriminately - retail warehouses, food storage facilities, logistics hubs, enterprises, building materials warehouses," he wrote on Facebook.

One of the companies hit was Epicentr, one of Ukraine's biggest retail and construction chains. It said on Facebook that "in minutes, Russian missiles destroyed what the company had built over decades". One employee was killed and three others were injured, and two of the company's key logistics hubs were struck.

Epicentr said a direct hit also destroyed the production floor of its ceramic tile factory, forcing it to stop manufacturing there and move production abroad. The company said full recovery could take up to two years. It also expressed support for other Ukrainian businesses damaged in the attack, saying it understood "how many years of work, effort, faith and daily responsibility stand behind every enterprise".

Ukraine has also targeted Russian retail logistics in its own campaign, striking several warehouses belonging to Wildberries as part of a broader effort to damage Moscow's economy and bring home the costs of the war. The latest attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region left 17 dead, 44 injured and caused damage across civilian business sites, infrastructure and logistics facilities.

With PTI Inputs

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