Zelenskyy urges air defense aid after deadly Russian strikes on Kyiv

Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned to Kyiv after a Russian barrage of 74 missiles and 496 drones killed at least 18 people and left a nine-storey apartment building half destroyed on the city’s left bank. He cut short a visit to Ireland and came back as rescue crews worked through wrecked homes and civilians sheltered underground.

The overnight assault was one of the largest of the war, with the heaviest strike on the capital in months. Damage was recorded at 30 locations across Kyiv, mostly residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said 20 residential buildings were damaged. Reuters counted about 130 buildings across the city as hit, and thousands of residents spent the night in bomb shelters and metro stations as the strikes fell before dawn.

Zelenskyy said the timing of Western support mattered as much as the weapons themselves. Standing near the shattered building on Kyiv’s left bank, he said more homes and more lives could have been saved if promised air defenses had arrived on time, and urged allies to do what had already been agreed rather than ask for more. He also asked Washington for a license to produce Patriot missiles.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the assault a “night of horror,” while Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a day of mourning for Friday. The attack came as Russia said it was retaliating for Ukrainian drone strikes on its oil facilities, part of a widening exchange that has hit energy infrastructure on both sides.

Poland scrambled fighter jets as neighboring countries monitored the attack.