Ukraine fails to halt Russian barrage as Zelensky blames partners for ‘horrific casualties’U
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U.S.-made systems are Kyiv’s only means to shoot down ballistic missiles, and Ukraine says it has run out of interceptors. Seventeen Ukrainians died overnight.
image from article (reproduced/reduced in size) with caption:
"A man walks past bodies of people killed in a Russian strike
at a railway station in the Kyiv region on Wednesday.
(Mykola Tymchenko/AFP/Getty Images)"
Not all images mentioned here, I [JB] could not for technical reasons
Ukrainian forces failed to shoot down a single Russian missile early Wednesday during Moscow’s latest aerial bombardment of Kyiv and the surrounding region — in what President Volodymyr Zelensky said was a consequence of a plunge in anti-ballistic systems supplied by its partners, including the United States.
Zelensky wrote on X that 17 people were killed , adding: “Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today. It is very important that our partners understand that delays in supplying them, or an unwillingness to provide anti-ballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction.” In a separate post Wednesday, he said that the number of air defense missiles supplied by partners “has dropped threefold compared with 2025.”
“Our partners do have the missiles,” Zelensky wrote. “It is important that the necessary political decisions on supplies and the acceleration of production processes are ultimately made.”
It was the third major ballistic attack on Kyiv in a week, and came only days after Zelensky warned that his country had run out of air defense interceptors.
Russian forces also appear to be expanding their list of civilian targets, striking the logistics hub of Novus and distribution centers of Silpo, two of Ukraine’s largest supermarket chains. Six people were killed in the Silpo strike, company officials wrote on Facebook.
Russia launched 24 ballistic and four hypersonic cruise missiles overnight, along with 115 attack drones, most of which targeted the area outside of Kyiv, Ukraine’s Air Force said on social media. All of the missiles and 17 drones struck targets. More than 50 people were injured, officials said.
Eight people were also killed in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary as they waited on a station platform for their train, which had been delayed, local official Vitaliy Bihun said during a broadcast on Ukrainian television.
In a statement posted on social media, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it carried out a “massive strike” that resulted “in the destruction of transportation, logistics, and distribution centers in the city of Kyiv and the Kyiv region.”
Photos show Russian attack on a warehouse in Kyiv
Firefighters battle a blaze after Russian missiles hit a warehouse in Kyiv early Wednesday. (Dan Bashakov/AP) Firefighters at the scene of a Russian missile attack. (Dan Bashakov/AP)
Ukraine relies on the U.S.-designed Patriot air defense systems as its only means to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles, and until recently, a large number were intercepted. However, the system’s interceptor missiles are in short supply, in part because of the large number used during the Iran war.
European governments, Ukraine’s chief military backers, have been reluctant to hand over more of their Patriots out of worry this could hobble their own defenses. Earlier this year, the Trump administration prodded several European countries to send Kyiv their Patriot missiles, but some declined out of such concern, people familiar with the private discussions said.
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NATO officials say production of the U.S.-made batteries and other air defenses is lagging behind the pace of global conflict and impacting countries including the United States.
imageSmoke rises from a fire following a Russian strike in Kyiv on Wednesday. (Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP/Getty Images)
image A Ukrainian family watches smoke rise following massive Russian strikes in Kyiv. (Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP/Getty Images)
On Friday, President Donald Trump also appeared to reverse an agreement reached with Zelensky earlier to provide Ukraine with licenses to produce interceptor missiles itself.
“The situation is really bad,” a former senior Ukrainian official said Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, predicting a “worst scenario” by this winter. “No interceptors now, and in upcoming months I don’t believe that this is possible to find some significant numbers. It’s important, and even if we would have some figures, it won’t be enough, because Russia has many more ballistic missiles.”
On social media on Wednesday, Zelensky also called for Ukraine’s allies to impose additional sanctions on Russia since he said “a significant share” of the components that Moscow obtains abroad for its ballistic missile production were not under sanctions.
Russia’s latest attack destroyed warehouses and logistics centers of some of Ukraine’s largest retail companies.
Iryna Chechotkina, a co-founder of Rozetka — Ukraine’s largest online marketplace, similar to Amazon — said that a distribution warehouse in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary, where more than 100,000 orders were processed daily, was destroyed completely and could not be restored. No one was injured in the attack, to her “great relief,” she said.
“Today I was supposed to post about Rozetka turning 21. To thank our customers, partners, and team for this long journey we have traveled together,” Chechotkina wrote on Facebook.
“Instead, at night I watched as my life’s work burned down after three ballistic missiles hit,” she said.
For its part, Ukrainian drones in recent weeks have been bombarding warehouses run by Russia’s largest e-commerce marketplace Wildberries. On Wednesday, Ukrainian drones attacked a facility in Russia’s central Tula region, Telegram channels and local officials said.
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Stern reported from Mukachevo, Ukraine. Ellen Francis in Brussels and Natalia Abbakumova in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.
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