A devastating Russian missile attack on Kyiv on Sunday night resulted in 23 fatalities across the capital and its wider region, with Ukrainian officials citing a "serious shortage" of interceptor missiles as the reason none of the 23 ballistic missiles targeting the city were shot down. At least 15 people were killed in the capital itself, while another eight died in the broader Kyiv region, marking the second major Russian assault on the Ukrainian capital within a week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urgently appealed to allies to make "strong decisions" regarding air defence provisions for Kyiv at this week's Nato summit. Following the strikes, he acknowledged that while the Ukrainian military had successfully intercepted cruise missiles and drones, ballistic missiles remained a critical challenge. Zelensky later described it as "simply absurd that, in the modern world, production has still not been scaled up to the level actually required to protect people from ballistic terror."
The "massive Russian attack" on Sunday involved a total of 68 missiles and 351 strike drones, according to a post by President Zelensky on X. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that it managed to shoot down or suppress 37 missiles and 326 drones. Zelensky warned that Moscow would continue to target residential buildings as long as defensive Patriot missiles "remain in our allies' stockpiles."
The night brought widespread destruction and terror to the capital, marked by loud explosions and the sounds of Ukraine's air defences. By Monday morning, the extent of the damage was visible, with three large blocks of flats in the city partially collapsed, some directly hit by missiles. Helicopters were seen shuttling water from the river to extinguish fires across the city.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine confirmed 56 injuries in the capital, including seven children, with an additional 48 people injured in the wider Kyiv region. In the Podilskyi district, rescue teams, aided by sniffer dogs, worked tirelessly through the ruins of an apartment block that had a large hole blown through its middle. Cranes lifted massive concrete slabs from collapsed flats as bricks crashed to the ground, with teams searching for those missing among the wreckage.
Residents shared harrowing accounts of the attack. One woman, too distraught to speak, was being comforted by a team who stated two of her relatives were buried in the rubble. Another woman, whose eighth-floor flat had vanished, broke down while attempting to register her loss with the police. Olena, another resident, recounted the moment of impact: "After the first blast, nearby, the glass shattered and hit us, almost on our heads.
Then everything was shaking." She admitted not going to the bomb shelter due to exhaustion, stating, "I feel like I have calmed down, but I am still trembling all over." Olena also questioned the lack of ballistic missile interception, asking, "The missiles hit our houses, and that's terrible. Really scary. It seems we have nothing to intercept them with. So where are our partners? What's happening? That's my question."
Ukraine accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilian areas in the attack. Russia, however, claimed it had targeted military and energy bases in retaliation for recent Ukrainian strikes on power stations and energy facilities within Russian territory.
Kyiv has maintained its drone attacks on critical Russian energy facilities, leading to temporary power cuts in Sevastopol, located in Russian-occupied Crimea. The Ukrainian military also reported striking three Russian oil refineries, including the country's largest in Omsk, over 2,414 km (1,500 miles) away, marking one of Kyiv's longest-range targets inside Russia. Russia's Ministry of Defence stated that Kyiv had launched 625 long-range strike drones, with its forces shooting down 613 of them.
The Nato summit, which commences on Tuesday in Ankara, Turkey, is expected to be a crucial platform for these discussions. Several reports suggest President Zelensky may meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines. In his Monday post on X, Zelensky emphasized the "critically important" need for the US and Ukraine's European partners to arrive at the summit "with strong decisions in support of our air defense, and thus the protection of ordinary people's lives," adding that "The United States and Europe have enough power to stop this terror." President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that Ukraine's "urgent" need for more air defence would be a key topic at the summit.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently controls approximately one-fifth of Ukrainian territory.
The BBC spoke to residents who have lost everything, as they queued to register their loss with the police.
Putin makes rare admission of fuel shortages caused by Ukrainian strikes
