Nearly 20 killed in Russian attack on Kyiv region as Ukraine fails to intercept a single missile

Russian forces launched a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine overnight on August 5. Kyiv region bore the brunt of the attack, the Ukrainian Air Force Command reported, and Kyiv itself was also hit.

The Ukrainian military reported that Russian forces fired four Zircon/Onyx anti-ship missiles, 24 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, and 115 drones of various types at Ukraine.

The strikes killed 17 people and injured 44, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. “Ballistic missile interceptors are what could have saved the lives of those killed today. It is very important for partners to understand that delays in supplying them, or reluctance to hand over anti-ballistic systems, leads directly to such horrific casualties and destruction,” he added.

Ukraine deployed aviation, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare and drone units, and mobile fire teams to intercept the barrage, but the Air Force’s own report showed they failed to shoot down a single missile, a conclusion Ukrainian journalists also reached.

The Air Force Command’s report today said only that air defense forces managed to shoot down or suppress 98 Russian drones. “Hits from missiles and 17 attack drones were recorded at 26 locations, and the wreckage of downed drones fell at six locations,” the report also said. The command usually mentions it in its reports whenever it does shoot down Russian missiles.

Zelensky regularly appeals to allies for more missiles to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses. He said on August 1 that Ukraine had run out of interceptor missiles for its Patriot systems, a network critical to the country’s air defense. Kyiv has repeatedly complained of a Patriot interceptor shortage amid steady Russian bombardment, warning that if the problem isn’t resolved by winter, Russia will sharply escalate strikes on energy infrastructure.

During a July meeting at the White House, Zelensky asked Donald Trump for an emergency package of Patriot missiles before winter, but the U.S. president refused, according to The Atlantic. The United States itself is grappling with a missile shortage, including for air defense systems, amid its ongoing war with Iran. Trump also said he would grant Kyiv a license to manufacture Patriot missiles, but he apparently changed his mind afterward.

Zelensky said the attack’s main targets were “facilities with no connection to the war”: a brewing company, construction-material warehouses, civilian logistics facilities, and a railway station. Large fires broke out in Kyiv and the surrounding region, local authorities reported, and ammonia leaked from a damaged tank in the capital’s Holosiivskyi district.

The strikes in Kyiv and the surrounding region destroyed, among other things, a Nova Poshta sorting center, the largest warehouse belonging to the Ukrainian online retailer Rozetka, logistics centers operated by the Epicentr retail chain, and a warehouse in Dnipro owned by household-goods manufacturer and distributor Biosphere. The Rozetka warehouse in Brovary district has now been hit three times in the past several days.

The strikes came alongside Ukraine’s own drone campaign against warehouses belonging to Wildberries, the largest marketplace. Kyiv has struck 21 of the company’s facilities since mid-July, including an August 5 attack that set fire to a warehouse in Tula region.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed its troops struck transportation, logistics, and distribution centers in Kyiv and the region, saying the sites were used to store and deliver various weapons and cargo for military and dual-use purposes, as well as to produce and distribute drones and their components. Kyiv offers a similar justification for its strikes on Wildberries warehouses, though Ukrainian officials haven’t named the company.

The Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda writes that Ukraine’s strikes on Wildberries and Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian companies’ logistics centers can’t be considered “symmetrical” or “retaliatory.” Russia has been hitting the warehouses of Ukrainian companies since the war began, the outlet notes, and the intensity of strikes on Ukraine’s logistics centers hasn’t increased since the attacks on Wildberries began.

The aftermath of the strikes on Kyiv and the region