Russians kill at least nine in Kyiv in ballistic missile strikes overnight (updating)
Russian forces launched a combined strike on Kyiv and the Kyiv region overnight on 1 August 2026. At least nine people have been killed in Russian ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv, local officials stated. A further 28 people were injured in the attack on the Ukrainian capital overnight, according to the country’s State Emergency Service. Direct hits and falling debris were reported in several districts of Ukraine’s capital, damaging residential and non-residential buildings and sparking fires.
BBC News noted that Moscow has escalated deadly ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine’s capital recently, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to say that missile interceptors are urgently needed.
According to the Ukrainian President, Russia launched 35 missiles against Ukraine overnight – 27 of them ballistic – as well as 185 attack drones of various types.
“Kyiv was the primary target, but strikes also hit the Dnipro, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Poltava regions. Only one ballistic missile was intercepted, simply because there are no interceptors for the Patriot systems,” Zelenskyy wrote, pointing out that such a shortage of anti-ballistic interceptors only encourages Russia to carry out these attacks against civilian life.
“It is critical that partners hear that these capabilities are needed not somewhere in stockpiles for hypothetical scenarios, but here and now, to contain and stop the Russian war in Ukraine. Every package of ballistic missile interceptors saves the lives of our people, and every night without them results in more casualties. I thank everyone who is working to strengthen our defences,” he said.
Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the capital had come under a ballistic missile attack on Saturday, with AFP reporting more than 10 explosions. Fires broke out across the city, and power cuts were reported in some areas.
Klitschko said a residential building in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi District was partially destroyed, trapping people inside.
The emergency services said at least seven people were killed in a strike in the Darnytskyi District. Another 14 were injured, including two children, it reported.
The public broadcaster Suspilne.Kyiv reported that some victims were struck as they tried to reach a shelter,
Two ballistic missiles hit near residential buildings in the district. The strikes damaged 13 apartment buildings, and a missile impact left a crater in a local park.
After air raid sirens sounded, residents ran toward a concrete structure used as a shelter. At that moment, a missile struck nearby, killing five people. As other residents rushed to help the wounded, a second missile hit the area, killing two more people.
A resident of one of the damaged buildings said his neighbour was killed in the attack, adding that the man’s legs had been blown off.
“The bathroom saved us. The tiles started falling, but the water heater stayed intact. I don’t know how it didn’t fall on our heads, how we survived,” cites Lesia, a Kyiv resident, Suspilne News as saying.
A missile landed near the Lithuanian embassy, breaking windows and scattering debris in the compound, Lithuania’s foreign ministry stated. There are no signs of any genuine readiness by Russia to end its campaign of terror against Ukraine, Lithuania’s foreign minister Kęstutis Budrys said.
Russians killed a 22-year-old police officer, Yehor Terekhin, who was helping wounded civilians at the scene of a Russian strike on Kyiv. The 22-year-old Kyiv resident is survived by his mother and 9-year-old brother.
BBC News noted that the attack comes after Zelenskyy met President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., earlier this week to urge the U.S. to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptor missiles.
Asked about the missiles during a cabinet meeting at the Camp David retreat on Friday, Trump said the U.S. had not agreed to Ukraine building Patriot missiles but that talks were ongoing. He said the US had to be “very careful about letting somebody build them”. Emphasising concerns about sharing advanced U.S. weaponry, Trump called it “a big step”.
As Russia has stepped up its air attacks, Ukraine has run low on supplies of Patriots, which remain the only weapon in its arsenal capable of downing ballistic missiles.
“I don’t think this would ever happen, but, you know, those people that you give that technology, they can someday turn on you,” Trump said.
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