Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region killed 17 people and wounded 44 others overnight into Wednesday, according to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The attack damaged business premises and a train station.
Targets included a brewing company, a warehouse for construction material, and a mail sorting office. Zelenskyy said these facilities had nothing to do with the war, though the Russian Defense Ministry claimed the businesses had military ties.
The two-hour nighttime attack was the latest in a series of large-scale Russian ballistic missile strikes that have become routine this summer. Ukraine faces a critical shortage of interceptor missiles for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, the only weapons in its arsenal capable of stopping ballistic missiles. Zelenskyy has called on other countries to send more ammunition, noting that supplies during the first half of the year dropped to one-third of the 2025 level.
"Ballistic interceptors are what could have saved the lives of those killed today," Zelenskyy said on social media. "It is very important for our partners to understand that delays in supplying them, or a reluctance to hand over anti-ballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction."
Ukrainian forces responded with long-range drone strikes on Russian targets. Ukrainian drones hit a Wildberries warehouse in the Tula region south of Moscow. It was the 14th Wildberries warehouse to catch fire in less than three weeks, according to Ukrainian counts. Ukraine says the company provides goods usable by the military.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported downing 475 Ukrainian drones overnight across 16 regions, Crimea, and surrounding waters.
According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia fired 24 ballistic missiles, four other missiles identified as hypersonic Zircons or supersonic Oniks, and 115 drones in the attack. The Russian Defense Ministry said it struck transport, logistics and distribution centers involved in military activity in Kyiv.
Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said "The enemy is attacking everything indiscriminately, retail warehouses, food storage facilities, logistics hubs, enterprises, building materials warehouses."
A Kyiv warehouse worker described receiving an air raid warning just after midnight and evacuating to shelter before hearing "some very loud, very loud explosions."
Nova Poshta, Ukraine's largest private postal operator, said a Russian cluster munition destroyed one of its sorting centers. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed the center stored dual-use goods including drone components.
A truck driver from Moldova reported running from his vehicle after it was struck by shrapnel. Epicentr, one of Ukraine's largest retail and construction chains, said Russian missiles destroyed facilities built over decades, killing one employee and wounding three others.
