Russia Kills 7 in Strikes After Zelenskyy's Patriot Talks
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- Russia killed at least seven people in ballistic missile strikes on Ukraine spanning from Kyiv to Lviv, forcing Poland to scramble fighter jets to secure its own airspace.
- Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile, launched from the Voronezh region, struck a family home in Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih, killing six people including two girls aged 5 and 12 and injuring eight others.
- Zelenskyy returned from Washington where Trump agreed to licence Patriot missile production in Ukraine, then warned hours before the strikes that a massive Russian attack was imminent.
- Ukraine remains short of PAC-3 interceptor missiles — the only system capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles — and the article states that shortage has worsened since the US-Israel war on Iran began in February.
- Russia's Ministry of Defence claimed its strikes hit military facilities from Kyiv to Lviv and three cargo ships near Odesa that it accused of carrying weapons and military equipment.
- Ukrainian drone attack set fire to a Wildberries warehouse in the Russian city of Penza, injuring one person and forcing 200 evacuations; Zelenskyy accuses the retailer of trading in goods supporting Russia's invasion.
Why it matters: The strikes killed children in Zelenskyy's hometown hours after he secured a Patriot licensing commitment from Trump, but Ukraine still lacks the PAC-3 interceptor missiles needed to defend against ballistic missiles — a shortfall the article explicitly links to the February US-Israel war on Iran diverting interceptor stockpiles. With Russia now reaching Lviv and forcing Poland to scramble jets, the diplomatic gains from Zelenskyy's White House visit face an immediate test: licences to build Patriots don't solve the urgent need for interceptors already in stock.
