Russian ballistic missiles rock Kyiv, fire breaks out
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Editor's Note: This is a developing story and will be updated.
Russia launched an overnight ballistic missile attack against Kyiv early on July 8, with explosions heard in the capital shortly before air raid alerts were activated, according to Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground.
Ukraine's Air Force warned of the threat of Russian ballistic missiles heading toward the capital as local officials urged residents to remain in shelters.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a missile strike sparked a fire at warehouse facilities in the city's Desnianskyi district, while a separate fire broke out in a non-residential building in the Sviatoshynskyi district.
No casualties have been reported so far, and the full extent of the damage remains unclear.
As Russian troops' gains on the front line have stalled, Moscow has increasingly relied on ballistic missiles to inflict maximum damage in large-scale aerial strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine's ability to protect its cities from Russian ballistic missiles depends heavily on its dwindling supply of Patriot interceptors — ammunition for the U.S.-made air defense system that remains the only weapon to have proven effective against ballistic threats.
The latest attack comes one day after Russia launched one of its deadliest attacks on Kyiv overnight on July 6, killing at least 26 people and injuring dozens more across the capital and surrounding Kyiv Oblast.
That assault followed another major attack just four days earlier on July 2, when Russian missiles and drones killed 31 people and injured more than 100 others in Kyiv.
