Russia strikes Kyiv with ballistic missiles and drones, killing at least nine and wounding 33
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- Russia launched an overnight barrage of ballistic missiles and drones at Kyiv, killing at least 9 people and wounding 33, with the attack following a major Russian strike two days earlier that killed at least 10 and wounded 50+ across Ukraine.
- A five-story residential building in Kyiv's Solomianskyi District was damaged by falling debris and fire, killing 2 and injuring 8 — including 2 children — as rescue workers evacuated 35 people from upper floors.
- In Darnytskyi District, 7 people were killed and 14 injured after the attack sparked fires and damaged houses, vehicles, and administrative buildings, while fires were also extinguished in the capital's Shevchenkivskyi district.
- Lithuania's embassy in Kyiv was damaged when missiles struck nearby overnight, Lithuania's foreign minister said.
- Russia's defence ministry claimed it had launched a "massive strike" targeting "Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities and logistics centres in Kyiv."
- Zelensky spoke with US Vice President JD Vance on Friday, identifying Patriot interceptors against ballistic missiles as a "top priority," while Trump appeared to retreat from a July NATO summit pledge to license Patriot production in Ukraine, telling a Cabinet meeting at Camp David he had not made a final decision.
- Liudmyla Nakonechna, a 64-year-old cancer patient, said she was woken at 1:30 a.m. by explosions that blew her bathroom door off its hinges — noting attacks had shifted from once every week or two to "practically every day."
Why it matters: The overnight barrage underscores a widening gap between Ukraine's stated air defence needs and Western delivery. Trump appeared to walk back a July NATO summit commitment to license Patriot production in Ukraine at Camp David just one day before the strikes killed at least 9 — leaving Kyiv's anti-ballistic missile shortage unmet as Russia's attack tempo accelerates from weekly to near-daily.
