Russian strikes kill at least 22 in Kyiv ahead of NATO summit

Russian missiles and drones slammed into Kyiv before dawn, killing at least 22 people across the capital and the surrounding region as rescuers pulled through shattered apartment blocks and hunted for survivors in the rubble. The earlier death toll in Kyiv alone stood at at least 12, but local and national officials later raised the combined count as crews kept searching damaged residential high-rises.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 351 drones and 68 missiles overnight, including 29 ballistic missiles, and Ukrainian officials said all 29 ballistic missiles reached their targets. That outcome sharpened a long-running problem for Kyiv: Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned hours before the attack that a large-scale strike was imminent, then said Ukraine had done well against drones and cruise missiles but had not been able to stop Russian ballistic missiles because interceptor missiles were in short supply.

The attack landed as Ukraine prepared for a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, where Zelenskyy was expected to push allies for more air-defense systems and additional Patriot missiles. The timing made the barrage as much about politics and optics as destruction on the ground, sending a message from Moscow at a moment when Kyiv was pressing Western governments to keep military aid flowing. Ukraine’s dependence on U.S.-made Patriots has become especially acute as global stocks of interceptors remain tight.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the strike was retaliation for recent Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russian fuel infrastructure, which have caused severe shortages and added pressure on Vladimir Putin. In Kyiv, the blasts hit residential buildings, not military sites. One resident said the same damaged building had been struck twice in a month, a reminder of how repeatedly the city’s apartment blocks have been caught in the war.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko visited one of the damaged sites and warned that more people could still be buried under the debris. Tymur Tkachenko and emergency crews continued to report injuries as the toll climbed, with some tallies approaching 100 wounded. The attack underlined the gap between Ukraine’s warning time and its ability to stop ballistic missiles, a gap that Zelenskyy is likely to use to press NATO leaders for faster and larger air-defense deliveries.