KYIV — Russia launched a major aerial attack on Kyiv overnight, killing at least 11 people, just a day before leaders of NATO countries are set to meet in Ankara, Turkey and after a weekend in which Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with President Donald Trump.
Facing acute fuel shortages in Russia and a growing global perception that Putin’s war is stalling, Moscow’s forces have stepped up airstrikes on Kyiv and other cities in recent days, including an attack on Kyiv last week that killed 30 people.
Putin late last week donned green military fatigues and visited a command post where he insisted that claims of Ukraine’s success were being fabricated.
However, Russian appointed officials in Crimea recently declared a state of emergency there, and Ukraine’s mid- and long-range drone strikes on oil refineries and other infrastructure have led to fuel rationing in many Russian regions and long queues at gas stations including in Moscow, the capital, raising public unease.
In the most recent attack, Russia launched 68 missiles of various types and 351 attack drones, striking more than 30 locations throughout the country, Ukraine’s Air Force posted on social media on Monday.
A substantial portion of the attack seemed to target Kyiv, with loud explosions sounding repeatedly in the early morning hours. Many residents of the capital are sleeping in subway shelters for protection, as they struggle to maintain a semblance of normal life.
The Air Force also said that all 23 ballistic missiles and six hypersonic cruise missiles that Russia fired penetrated Ukrainian air defenses and struck targets, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attributed a lack of Patriot antiaircraft interceptor missiles.
“Our warriors performed well today in intercepting drones and cruise missiles, but unfortunately not Russian ballistic missiles,” Zelensky wrote on social media.
Zelensky said that it was “critically important that the world — first and foremost the United States and our European partners” used the NATO summit in Ankara to make “strong decisions in support of our air defense, and thus the protection of ordinary people’s lives.”
“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep ‘vanquishing’ residential buildings,” Zelensky said. “The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror.”
In addition to the 11 dead in Kyiv, three people were killed in the capital region outside the city and more than 60 people were injured, local officials said.
In a western district of Kyiv, a section of a residential apartment building collapsed because of the air assault, they said.
On Thursday, Russia launched more than 70 missiles and close to 500 attack drones, the majority of which targeted the capital. One apartment building that was hit collapsed.
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