Ukraine is particularly vulnerable to ballistic missile attacks due to a shortage of Patriot air defence munitions.
Published On 19 Jul 2026
Russia has unleashed another night of powerful air attacks on Kyiv, firing its largest number of ballistic missiles since the start of the war, according to Ukraine’s foreign minister.
The hours-long attacks on Kyiv early on Sunday killed one person and injured at least 15, according to local officials. They spanned six districts of the city, Ukraine’s national police said.
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The latest bombardment highlights mounting challenges for Ukraine in its fifth year of war as it weathers almost daily Russian attacks with a shortage of Patriot air defence missiles, which are its best chance of downing ballistic missiles.
Domestic tensions are also high due to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s removal of his defence minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle, which has sparked protests on the streets and dismay among many Ukrainian soldiers.
Some critics said his decision to replace Mykhailo Fedorov just as Ukraine seemed to be gaining momentum in the war was the worst mistake of his presidency.
‘Brutal terrorist attack’
Russia’s strikes on Sunday sparked fires across Kyiv, damaging residential buildings, offices, industrial sites, a dormitory and vehicles, according to the State Emergency Service.
Rescue workers pulled four people from a burning private home in the Sviatoshynskyi district while in the Shevchenkivskyi district they rescued residents from a burning three-storey building. A fire in a nonresidential building was also contained. One person was later found dead.
Firefighters also responded to blazes in the Solomyanskyi, Desnianskyi and Dnipro districts.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the ballistic missile barrage “a brutal terrorist attack on the Ukrainian capital” that demanded a firm response.
“We need devastating pressure on Moscow to end this terror,” he wrote in a post on X.
Russian drone strikes also targeted Dnipropetrovsk, a central region that borders the front line, killing one person, according to the regional official Oleksandr Ganzha.
In the Zaporizhia region, a Russian drone struck a passenger train, killing its conductor, Ukraine’s national railway company reported. It shared photos of rail cars in flames.
Russia has launched several large-scale waves of attacks on Kyiv in July, using ballistic missiles on at least seven occasions at a time when Ukraine is short of Patriot interceptor missiles.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s air force said it downed 18 of 41 missiles launched by Russia overnight.
Ukraine also said its forces struck two Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea, continuing its strategy of trying to starve the Russian-occupied peninsula Crimea of fuel and supplies by targeting shipping.
United States President Donald Trump said he is prepared to grant Ukraine licences to produce Patriot interceptor missiles domestically, potentially bolstering its defences, but the details and timeline of the move remain unclear.
