Russia Fires a Record Ballistic Barrage at Kyiv, Killing One
Russia launched its largest number of ballistic missiles against Kyiv since the start of the war early on Sunday — 41 missiles, including 25 ballistic, alongside 125 drones nationwide. One person was killed and at least sixteen wounded across six districts of the capital. Ukraine said it downed eighteen missiles and 108 drones, suggesting its depleted interceptor stocks have been partly replenished.
The barrage lands amid Ukraine’s worst political turbulence in months, after President Zelensky sacked the defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, in a move critics call the gravest error of his presidency. Kyiv’s ability to intercept more than seventeen ballistic missiles hints at replenished defences, but Russia has now mounted ballistic attacks on the capital at least seven times in July, exploiting a chronic interceptor shortage. The Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, called it “a brutal terrorist attack” and demanded “devastating pressure on Moscow”. For British readers it is the sharpest reminder that Europe’s other war has not paused. Watch whether promised Patriot production for Ukraine materialises.