Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to Donald Trump to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine after a devastating Russian attack killed at least 18 people and injured dozens more. Russia launched 73 missiles and 656 drones overnight, including eight hypersonic Tsirkon missiles, targeting Kyiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava and Kharkiv.
In Kyiv, loud explosions rocked the capital as residents sheltered in basements and metro stations. Twenty-two people died and 66 were injured, including three children. “A large-scale attack and a completely transparent statement from Russia,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic and other missile strikes, these strikes will continue.”
Ukraine’s president has repeatedly warned that the country is running out of Patriot interceptors, the only system capable of blocking fast-moving ballistic missiles. Ukraine’s air defences intercepted about half of the missiles fired on Tuesday, but more than 30 hit civilian targets. Zelenskyy wrote to the White House and Congress last week, describing Patriots as a “vital tool” in saving lives.
In Dnipro, at least 12 people were killed and 37 injured, including a three-year-old boy who died when a four-storey residential building collapsed. Six people remain missing under the rubble. Mayor Borys Filatov accused Moscow of using cluster munitions in built-up areas. In Kharkiv, at least 15 people were injured and residential homes damaged.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said the strikes showed Vladimir Putin was running out of options, as Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign hits Russian oil refineries and ports. “Putin is a war criminal and loser who has no cards except terror,” he said. “Moscow is losing on the battlefield.”
