KYIV, AUG 27 (AP): Russia bombarded cities across Ukraine with missiles and drones in an overnight onslaught that ran into the daylight hours Thursday, when explosions echoed around Kyiv through the morning.
Ukraine is desperately short of US-made Patriot air defence missiles that can counter Russia’s ballistic missiles, and Moscow’s fast-flying jet-powered drones have brought another challenge since the Russian military’s full-scale invasion began 4½ years ago.
Ukrainian officials say Russia builds up missile stocks and launches major attacks every few days, hoping to exhaust Ukrainian defences through the sheer weight of numbers. In response, Ukraine has hit high-profile targets on Russian soil as the countries inflict mutual destruction.
Russia says attack targeted war-related facilities
The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces carried out a “massive” strike on targets in nine Ukrainian cities that began after nightfall on Wednesday. It described the targets as military-related, including industrial facilities, oil refineries, logistics hubs and port infrastructure.
Civilian areas, including apartment buildings, suffered damage. The barrage killed a 78-year-old woman in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and another person in the northern Kharkiv region, with at least 14 people reported wounded elsewhere, Ukrainian officials said.
“Russia continues to invest in missiles and in expanding its war, and that means more countermeasures are needed,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media, noting promises earlier this week by European countries to provide more air defence assistance.
“It is important that these (measures) are also supplemented by additional ballistic missile defence packages” through European purchases of weapons from the United States, he said.
Friday, August 28, 2026