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Russian strikes on Kyiv overnight killed at least nine people and injured more than 30 others in what city mayor Vitali Klitschko called a “horrific night” for the capital.
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According to Klitschko, Russia launched a wave of ballistic missiles at Kyiv, causing damage to residential and non-residential buildings and sparking fires across five districts.
“Clean-up operations are also underway at the premises of the municipal organisation ‘Kyivmedspetstrans,’ which was hit twice,” Klitschko said. Kyivmedspetstrans is a city agency that operates ambulances and specialised emergency medical transportation.
Four of the organisation’s buildings were “partially destroyed” in the Russian strikes while five ambulances were “completely burnt out,” per Klitschko.
Emergency and rescue teams are continuing to work in the affected areas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russian forces launched 35 missiles, including 27 ballistic missiles, and 185 attack drones at Ukraine overnight.
“Kyiv was the primary target, but strikes also hit the Dnipro, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Poltava regions,” he wrote in a post on X, attaching video footage appearing to show the aftermath of the attacks.
Zelenskyy added that local air defences had shot down just one of the missiles as he renewed his calls for more Patriot interceptors.
“It is this shortage of ballistic missile interceptors that only encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives,” he said. “It is critical that partners hear that these capabilities are needed not somewhere in stockpiles for hypothetical scenarios, but here and now, to contain and stop the Russian war in Ukraine.”
Trump’s Patriot promise
It comes after US President Donald Trump appeared to walk back a promise to let Ukraine build its own Patriot missiles.
In a cabinet meeting on Friday, Trump said: “We have not agreed to that. We’re talking about it. But it’s a hard thing to give away that kind of technology.”
“People that you give that technology, they can some day turn on you. You know that is possible,” he added.
During a meeting with Zelenskyy at the 2026 NATO summit in Ankara, Trump had said Washington would give Ukraine a license to build Patriot missiles.
“We’ll show them how to do it,” he said, adding: “This way you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough.”
The Patriot missile system is one of the world’s most advanced air defences and can reportedly provide coverage against incoming ballistic missiles within a range of around 15 to 20 km.
