Russian missile and drone attacks killed 17 people and wounded at least 44 in Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight into August 5, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian officials said. The roughly two-hour barrage passed through depleted air defenses without any incoming missile being stopped, the Associated Press reported.

Ukraine said Russia fired 24 ballistic missiles, four other missiles identified as Zircon or Onik weapons, and 115 drones. The reported failure against the missiles turned a deadly attack into a measure of Ukraine's shortage of Patriot interceptors, but the available public record does not show how many interceptors were deployed around Kyiv that night.

Patriot shortage leaves few substitutes

Patriot batteries are the only systems in Ukrainian service that can intercept Russia's Iskander-M, S-400 and Zircon missiles, according to a Ukrainian Air Force spokesman quoted by the Associated Press. Other countries operate systems such as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and sea-based Aegis, but they have not supplied them to Ukraine.

Ballistic missiles give defenders little time to react because they descend steeply at several times the speed of sound. A Patriot battery must track the weapon, calculate its path and launch an interceptor within minutes, sometimes leaving only seconds for the final engagement. Protection can fail if a battery is absent, out of position or short of missiles.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine received one-third as many air-defense missiles in the first half of 2026 as it did in the same period of 2025. Neither Ukraine's partners nor the manufacturers involved have published figures that would independently confirm that comparison, and the number of interceptors remaining in Ukraine has not been disclosed.

Train station and logistics sites among the targets

Eight people were killed at a train station in the Brovary district east of Kyiv, the Associated Press reported. The barrage also struck a brewery, a construction-material warehouse and a Nova Poshta mail-sorting center. Nova Poshta, Ukraine's largest private postal operator, said a cluster munition destroyed its sorting facility.

Broken concrete and debris at a damaged site (illustrative image)

Epicentr, a large Ukrainian retail and construction chain, said one employee was killed and three were wounded when its logistics center was hit. Russia's Defense Ministry said the sites handled dual-use goods or drone components. The Associated Press said it could not reconcile the Russian and Ukrainian accounts of the targets' military value.

Ukraine answers with long-range attacks

Ukraine continued attacks inside Russia after the Kyiv barrage. Ukrainian drones struck a Wildberries warehouse in Russia's Tula region, according to the company and the regional governor; Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces downed 475 Ukrainian drones over 16 regions, Russian-occupied Crimea and nearby seas. The Russian interception claim could not be independently verified.

The exchanges extend beyond a single night. The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine recorded 1,396 civilians killed and 7,978 injured in the first half of 2026, 37 percent more casualties than in the same period of 2025. It said long-range weapons, including missiles and drones, caused 45 percent of civilian casualties in June, with many recorded in cities far from the front.

What the attack shows about air defense

The August 5 barrage does not establish that Patriot systems are ineffective. It shows that their protection depends on the location of a limited number of batteries and the availability of compatible interceptors. Russia also combines missiles with drones and decoys, forcing Ukrainian crews to track many targets and conserve ammunition.

Ukraine has asked partners for more interceptors and says it wants to produce Patriot ammunition domestically. It is also working with nine European countries on a proposed lower-cost missile-defense system called Freya; the project remains under development, and no operational date has been established.