Kyiv —
Russia has launched one of its largest ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine since launching a full-scale invasion more than four years ago.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Moscow launched a “massive combined attack on Ukraine using strike UAVs and various types of air- and ground-launched missiles” on Sunday night, and that the capital Kyiv was the main target.
“The enemy fired more than 40 missiles of various types – most of them at the capital – and 120 attack drones,” said President Vladimir Zelensky.
CNN city reporters reported that the shelling was intense and lasted for two hours overnight. One of them said there was a strong smell of smoke in the city on Sunday morning and the air raid warning was still in effect.
Andrei Sybiga, acting foreign minister, said Russia launched “about four dozen” missiles on a ballistic trajectory, calling it “the largest number of ballistic missiles since the start of the war.”
According to the Air Force, air defenses “shot down or neutralized 126 targets, including 18 missiles and 108 unmanned aerial vehicles.” However, 23 missiles and 10 drones hit 20 objects, the department added.
Photos from Kyiv show a huge crater hollowed out of the ground and scorched facades of buildings. A large logistics warehouse was seriously damaged.
According to state emergency services, strikes were recorded in five districts of the capital. According to them, one person was killed and 16 were wounded in the city.
Across Ukraine, local authorities reported at least 16 civilians killed and 77 wounded in the past 24 hours in Russian drone and missile attacks, with most of the casualties occurring in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.
The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed what it called a “massive strike” on “defense industry facilities and logistics centers in the city of Kyiv” and later said on its Telegram channel: “We are busy and continue on our way.”
The Russian strikes follow devastating Ukrainian drone attacks on two logistics centers early Saturday that killed eight people.
“Protection against ballistic missiles is our constant and main priority now,” Zelensky said. “Interceptors are needed every day, and I am grateful to everyone who takes our agreements seriously and ensures the delivery of missile defense capabilities.”
Ukraine has often advocated increasing the number of interceptors capable of fighting ballistic missiles whose trajectory and speed make them difficult to destroy. They can return to the atmosphere at speeds several times the speed of sound.
Analysts say Russia is increasing the frequency of combined missile and drone strikes to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure.
“Russian ballistic missile attacks on Ukrainian cities are now the preferred strategy, and we should expect more,” said Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
Ukraine’s stockpile of US-made Patriot missiles, which are also in high demand among US allies amid the conflict in the Persian Gulf, is dwindling. While production of the Patriot is ramping up in the US, demand is outpacing supply.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump proposed that Ukraine produce Patriots under license, but such a project would take months and possibly years to complete.
Ukraine is also working with France and Italy on an agreement to produce another air defense missile, the SAMP/T. But some analysts say its performance is at times inferior to that of the Patriot.
According to Fabian Hoffman of the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, the market for interceptors capable of destroying ballistic missiles has “a limited number of suppliers, long delivery times and unresolved questions about capabilities.”
Ukraine continued its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure with another early Sunday attack on an export hub that carries oil from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which operates a hub off Russia’s Black Sea coast, said on Sunday that two tankers had been damaged and oil loading had been stopped. They noted that there were no casualties.
The same facility was attacked on Friday.
The Ukrainians said on Sunday they used a naval drone to strike a tanker in the Black Sea that was operating as part of Russia’s shadow fleet. The tanker, named Avero, entered the Black Sea on Thursday but is not under US or European sanctions, according to ship tracking service MarineTraffic.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine, three oil depots in southern Russia were also damaged.