Russian strikes kill 12 in Kyiv as Ukraine grapples with air defense shortages

KYIV — At least 12 people have been killed and dozens wounded in the latest Russian strikes targeting the Ukrainian capital, as Kyiv continues to face a shortage of air defense missiles, authorities said on Thursday.Apartment blocks and warehouses were struck across Kyiv overnight, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (DSNS) said, while a children’s hospital and school were also damaged.The Russian defence ministry said it used air, land and sea-based weapons to target military facilities and warehouses.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the deaths were the result of a shortage of air defence missiles, which Kyiv relies on western allies to supply.Writing on Telegram, he said “as long as Ukraine does not have enough anti-ballistics, Russia will not seriously think about peace”.The massive missile attack on Kyiv struck residential areas and warehouses, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram.Klitschko later said the death toll in the capital had risen to 12, with 33 people wounded.An attack in the Brovary district of the broader Kyiv region also killed one man and wounded another, Kyiv regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said. It was unclear whether that death was included in Klitschko’s tally.“One industrial facility has been damaged. All relevant services are on site, working to extinguish the fire,” Tkachenko added.Ukraine’s air force had warned of Russian “Kalibr” missiles in the vicinity of the village of Kagarlyk within the Kyiv region, heading toward the capital.The attacks also prompted security responses in neighboring NATO member states.Poland’s military command said it had mobilized aircraft and activated air defenses aimed at protecting its airspace, particularly in areas bordering Ukraine.Romania’s defense ministry said radar systems detected aerial targets near the Ukrainian border overnight, prompting the scrambling of two Spanish fighter jets deployed on NATO missions and a Romanian air force helicopter.The ministry said a drone entered Romanian airspace near Galati before crashing in an unpopulated area in the country of Tulcea.Russia also reported a large Ukrainian drone attack.Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 250 drones had flown toward the Moscow region between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, with most destroyed at a significant distance from the capital itself.“Twenty-eight drones were destroyed in the Moscow region,” Sobyanin said.The two countries have ramped up long-range attacks in recent months, driving up the civilian death toll on both sides in the four-and-a-half-year war.While Kyiv has faced near-nightly attacks, Ukraine has also escalated its retaliatory strikes on Russia in recent months, in part to try to pressure Moscow into coming to the negotiating table to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.