Zelenskyy condemns deadly Kyiv strikes during first official Serbia visit

Belgrade,UPDATED: Aug 8, 2026 19:44 IST

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday condemned Russia's latest deadly attacks on Kyiv as he visited Serbia, one of the few European countries that has kept friendly relations with Moscow throughout the war. Four people, including a child, were killed in the overnight strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region, while Ukrainian forces said they had hit Russian oil facilities.

Zelenskyy's first official visit to Serbia came amid concerns over Ukraine's strained air defences and continued Russian missile and drone attacks. In Belgrade, he and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic discussed their countries' efforts to join the European Union, bilateral ties and ways to expand cooperation, with Vucic saying Serbia's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity would not change.

Speaking alongside Zelenskyy, Vucic described Ukraine as a "friendly nation" and said he was honoured to welcome the Ukrainian leader, the first visit by a Ukrainian president in eight years. Vucic, who has maintained close ties with Moscow and refused to impose sanctions on Russia over the invasion despite pressure from the EU, said Serbia continued to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Zelenskyy said Kyiv had again come under heavy attack. "The situation in Ukraine is difficult," he said at the press conference. "There was another missile strike last night - ballistic missiles targeting our infrastructure. There were also attack drones." He said deliveries of Patriot air defence missiles, the only weapons in Ukraine's arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles, had slowed compared with a year ago.

"There are fewer of these missiles in 2026. In 2025, there were more, I'll tell you honestly, in terms of monthly supplies," Zelenskyy said. He added that Washington had agreed to let Ukraine manufacture its own Patriot air defence missiles, but the effort was delayed. "The process for some of these licenses is also taking a long time," he said.

The talks in Belgrade followed a Russian attack in the Brovary district northeast of Kyiv, where multiple drones destroyed a family's home, local officials said. A three-year-old boy and his grandparents were killed. Three other members of the same family and a neighbour who came to help were taken to hospital. Authorities said the strike reduced the house to rubble and damaged outbuildings and cars.

Zelenskyy said at least one other person was killed in the capital in a "strike involving six ballistic missiles against civilian infrastructure". Ukraine's air force said it shot down or intercepted 135 of the 151 drones launched by Russia overnight. The attack also included six ballistic missiles and other guided missiles. Russia has repeatedly struck civilian areas of Ukraine, although Moscow says it targets only military sites.

Ukraine's defence ministry said on Friday that the country's air defences had shot down around 5,300 drones and missiles last month, just under 60 per cent of the roughly 9,000 attack drones and missiles launched by Russia in that period. Zelenskyy has urged other countries, especially the United States, to send more Patriot ammunition, which he said has become scarcer because of the Iran war. Failing that, he wants to produce Patriot ammunition in Ukraine or get permission from Elon Musk to use the Starlink satellite communications system to guide strikes inside Russia against missile launchers. After the latest attacks, he wrote on X calling for more sanctions to "prevent the production of these ballistic missiles," as well as more "anti-ballistic capabilities" and "interceptor missiles".

In Russia, local officials said six people were wounded after a fire broke out at the Ilsky oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region because of debris from a falling drone. Ukraine's General Staff said its forces had struck the refinery in Krasnodar as well as the Syzran oil refinery in the Samara region, more than 800 kilometres inside Russia. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, the governor of Samara, said drones had hit an "industrial enterprise" but did not mention the refinery.

Ukraine has carried out almost daily long-range drone and missile strikes with domestically developed weapons against Russian oil facilities for months, causing fuel shortages in Russia. The latest attacks on both sides underlined Ukraine's struggle to defend its cities from missile barrages and its efforts to hit key energy targets inside Russia.

With PTI Inputs

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