Russian missile, drone barrage kills at least 18 civilians in Ukraine, residential buildings hit

Russia launched waves of missiles and drones across Ukraine early on Monday, killing at least 18 people and injuring around 60 in one of the deadliest aerial assaults on the country this year, as Ukrainian officials warned that critical shortages of air defence interceptors were exposing major vulnerabilities.

The capital, Kyiv, was the main target of the overnight attack, with local authorities reporting 12 deaths. Another six people were killed in the surrounding Kyiv region, officials said.

Ukraine's Air Force said Russia fired 351 drones and 68 missiles during the assault, including 29 ballistic missiles, all of which struck their intended targets.

Officials said the attack highlighted Ukraine's growing shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles, the only system capable of reliably intercepting Russian ballistic missiles.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian air defences had successfully countered drones and cruise missiles but lacked sufficient interceptor missiles to stop ballistic attacks.

Ahead of this week's North Atlantic Treaty Orgnization summit in Ankara, Türkiye, Zelenskyy urged the United States and European allies to strengthen Ukraine's air defences.

"As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies' stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep demolishing residential buildings," he said.

Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Russia was escalating its use of ballistic missiles while exploiting the global shortage of Patriot interceptors.

"Fewer such missiles are produced worldwide each month than the enemy fires at Ukraine in that same period," he said.

Russia's Defence Ministry said the strikes targeted military-industrial facilities in Kyiv, including sites involved in producing drones, sea drones, armoured vehicles and missiles, as well as facilities repairing air defence systems and energy infrastructure. The claims could not be independently verified.

Emergency workers continued searching through the rubble of damaged residential buildings in Kyiv, where several apartment blocks suffered direct hits.

Ukraine's Emergency Service said around 600 residents were evacuated from the Kyiv suburb of Vyshneve because of the risk posed by unexploded ordnance.

The latest assault came just days after a Russian strike on Thursday killed 31 people in Kyiv, the deadliest attack on the capital this year.

Meanwhile, authorities in Russian-occupied Crimea reported widespread power outages after what they described as an external attack. Moscow-installed officials said electricity was later restored using backup systems.

Russia's Yaroslavl region also reported a Ukrainian drone attack that injured two people. Regional authorities said more than 70 drones were intercepted, while Russia's Defence Ministry claimed its air defences shot down 519 Ukrainian drones overnight.