Russia fired 27 ballistic missiles at Kyiv on 1 August, and Ukraine could stop only one. A massive overnight Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv killed at least nine people, damaged the Lithuanian embassy, and destroyed part of the city's ambulance fleet, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine has run out of interceptors for its Patriot systems. Meanwhile, Russia continues to target Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Poltava oblasts.
The interceptor shortage is now measured in bodies
During the attack, Ukraine's air defenders could engage the drones and the eight non-ballistic missiles, but against 27 ballistic missiles, the weapons, except for the Patriot, could not reliably stop them; they had almost nothing to fire.
"Every package of ballistic missile interceptors saves the lives of our people. Every night without them results in more casualties," Zelenskyy said.
This is the concrete form of a shortage that has run through Ukraine's diplomacy all summer, the 40% ballistic-interception rate in June now fallen closer to zero as stocks run dry.
The strike came days after Zelenskyy met the makers of the Patriot in Washington, where joint production, in the manufacturers' own words, was still in the "early days," and the missiles Ukraine needs tonight still depend on American stocks that are not arriving fast enough.
The strike hit an embassy, a school, and the ambulances
The attack damaged the city's civilian and diplomatic fabric. Russia's attack damaged 18 residential buildings, a school, and critical infrastructure, and the Lithuanian embassy suffered limited damage, though no embassy staff was harmed.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the embassy strike as a violation of international norms.
"Russian terror spares no one and does not respect any international norms, including the Vienna Convention. It can only be stopped through strength and with sufficient air defense," Sybiha said, thanking Lithuania for standing with Ukraine and offering any help needed.
Russia claimed it hit only military targets
Moscow's account of the night bore no relation to the residential buildings and the dead. Russia's Defense Ministry claimed the strike hit "military-industrial complex facilities and logistics centers" in Kyiv and said nothing about the numerous civilian casualties, per its own statement.
