Symbolic imageRussian ballistic missiles kill at least nine in Kyiv
Russian ballistic missiles hit Kyiv early on Saturday, killing at least nine people. It was the second major attack on the Ukrainian capital in a week.
What happened
- Air-raid alerts began after midnight; Ukraine's air force warned of ballistic launches from the Kursk direction, Ukrinform reported.
- Mayor Klitschko said the first two floors of a Shevchenkivskyi district building collapsed, trapping residents; warehouses burned, some areas lost power.
- The State Emergency Service reported fires and destruction in five districts of the capital.
- Klitschko counted 28 wounded including four children; AFP reported 23 wounded and 10 dead including the suburbs.
- Ukrainian drones sank a large Russian container ship in the Black Sea the same morning, AFP reported.
The view from outside
Meduza, citing The Guardian, reports that a strike on 26 July destroyed the Kyiv plant of Terminal Autonomy, a US drone maker; Russia's defence ministry called the target a drone assembly site without naming the company. Bloomberg reports Russia is pounding Black Sea ports with cheap upgraded cruise missiles.
What could happen next
- Kyiv's request for Patriot systems and interceptor supplies remains unresolved.
- Rescue work at the damaged building continued and casualty figures still differ between officials and agencies.
- A suspected Russian cruise missile that landed in Poland on Thursday, 30 July, remains unexplained.
Russia: State media report only explosions and a continuing air-raid warning in Kyiv; the defence ministry describes earlier targets as drone production sites.
Ukraine: Says Russia struck residential districts and that it is chronically short of the interceptors needed against ballistic missiles.
Also involved