By Dan Peleschuk
KYIV, July 19 (Reuters) – Russia battered Ukraine’s capital Kyiv overnight with one of its biggest ballistic missile barrages of the war, killing at least one person and wounding 16 others, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.
A series of powerful explosions thundered across the darkened city in an attack that involved 41 missiles of various types and ravaged buildings across several districts.
Residential buildings, warehouses, a supermarket and a dormitory were among the structures damaged, said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, adding that three people were in a serious condition.
At one location in western Kyiv, emergency workers picked through smouldering debris and doused bombed-out apartments.
A resident who identified himself as Vlad told Reuters he had been inside his apartment when a blast tore off his balcony door, which smashed him in the head.
“My grandmother lives with me, and she can’t walk. How could I run away and leave her behind?” he said.
Closer to the city centre, an underground pedestrian passage near a frequently targeted metro station had caved in, leaving a pile of rubble.
CRITICAL SHORTAGE OF AIR DEFENCES
Russian forces have stepped up ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks as Ukraine struggles with a critical shortage of U.S.-designed air defence.
Kyiv’s military said it had shot down 18 missiles in Sunday’s attack, which was aimed primarily at the Ukrainian capital. It added that 108 out of 125 drones had also been downed.
Zelenskiy said last week that the U.S. and Ukraine have reached a political agreement on licences to make the prized Patriot interceptors. He added that he hoped production could begin by the end of the year.
But the mounting Russian attacks in the fifth year of Moscow’s full-scale war are heaping pressure on Kyiv’s foreign partners to accelerate supply of anti-ballistic defences.
“Protection against ballistic missiles is our constant and top priority right now,” Zelenskiy said on X on Sunday. “Interceptors are needed every day.”
(Additional reporting by Andrii Perun and Yuliia DysaEditing by Michael Perry and David Goodman)
