KYIV, Ukraine, July 8 — Russia launched another overnight ballistic missile attack on Kyiv early Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said, marking the third strike on the capital within a week and highlighting Ukraine's ongoing shortage of advanced air defence interceptors capable of stopping ballistic threats.
The latest assault came as NATO leaders gathered in Ankara for a summit where U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
According to Ukraine's Air Force, Russian forces launched 169 drones and five ballistic missiles during the overnight attack. Air defence systems intercepted more than 80% of the drones, but none of the ballistic missiles were shot down.
The figures once again underscored the challenge Ukraine faces in defending against high-speed ballistic weapons, which require specialized interceptor systems that remain in limited supply.
Russia has intensified its long-range aerial campaign in recent months even as battlefield gains have slowed. At the same time, Ukraine has continued targeting Russian military logistics networks and energy infrastructure, including oil facilities, in an effort to disrupt Moscow's war effort.
Ukrainian officials said Russian attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding region have killed around 60 people since the start of July.
Kyiv's military administration chief, Tymur Tkachenko, said one woman was killed in Wednesday's strike while two others were injured.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack sparked fires at a storage facility and a non-residential building located in separate districts on opposite sides of the Dnipro River. Emergency crews were deployed to contain the fires and assess the damage.
Elsewhere, Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, also came under missile attack overnight. Regional officials reported damage to several private homes and a church. No immediate update was available on additional casualties.
Zelenskiy has repeatedly appealed to Western allies for more U.S.-made air defence interceptors, describing them as critical for protecting Ukrainian cities from ballistic missile attacks. These interceptor systems remain the primary means available to Ukraine for countering such high-speed weapons.
The Ukrainian president is expected to raise the issue during his meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
Ahead of the gathering, Trump held separate conversations with both Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking in Ankara on Tuesday, Trump said he believed the war could be resolved and expressed hope that progress toward a settlement could come soon.
Putin, however, has indicated that Russia will continue pursuing its military campaign despite mounting economic and logistical pressures. Moscow has maintained its demand that Ukraine surrender the remaining parts of the eastern Donetsk region that Russian forces have yet to fully capture after more than four years of fighting.
