Kyiv strike kills nine amid US doubts over Patriot licence
A lethal Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv has underscored Ukraine's critical air defence shortage just as Washington wavers on licensing Patriot production to Kyiv.
Russia pounded Kyiv with ballistic missiles overnight, killing at least nine people and wounding 28 others, including four children. A residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district partially collapsed, trapping residents, while warehouse fires broke out in the Darnytskyi district. It marked the second major barrage on the capital this week, following a Thursday attack that killed 10 civilians and saw a Russian missile briefly enter Polish airspace.
The casualties reflect a chronic Ukrainian shortage of interceptors capable of downing ballistic missiles, which travel at several times the speed of sound. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it "a hell of a night in Kyiv," warning that "the battle for the skies that will define the trajectory of this war."
Securing those defences has become politically complicated. US President Donald Trump told the Financial Times he was "not sure" he would allow Ukraine to build Patriot surface-to-air interceptor missiles under licence. "It's a very extraordinary weapon, and we have to be a little bit careful of who we license to," Trump said, walking back an earlier offer to share the technology.
The uncertainty extends to other critical US technology. President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Trump during an Oval Office meeting this week to help secure permission from Elon Musk to use Starlink satellite services to guide strikes inside Russia. Trump did not commit to the request.
Zelensky subsequently spoke with US Vice President JD Vance, noting that air defence remained a top priority. "The Vice President and I also spoke about the consequences of Russia's war for global markets," Zelensky said.
The conflict's friction with European borders is escalating as the air assaults continue. Nato member Romania scrambled fighter jets after detecting aerial targets near its river border with Ukraine. The targets disappeared from radar without entering national airspace, though explosions were reported on the Ukrainian side.
Kyiv is meanwhile attempting to inflict economic pain on Russia to disrupt its war effort. Ukrainian drones have struck about a dozen warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest e-commerce retailer, since July 18. Ukrainian officials accuse the company, often described as Russia's Amazon, of bolstering Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
Beyond kinetic and economic warfare, Moscow is leveraging hybrid tactics against the continent. Sybiha accused Russia of running an intensive propaganda campaign using images from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta to stoke migration fears. Ukrainian analysts identified more than 1,500 such publications across a pro-Russian network led by RT and Pravda designed to destabilise European countries.
