KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region killed 17 people and wounded 44 others overnight into Wednesday, smashing business premises and a train station, Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n
The targets hit included a brewing company, a warehouse for construction material, and a mail sorting office that had nothing to do with the war, Zelenskyy said. But the Russian Defense Ministry said the businesses masked ties to the military.<\/p>\n
The nighttime attack lasting about two hours was the latest in a series of large-scale Russian ballistic missile strikes that have become near-routine<\/a> this summer. The intensified barrages are exploiting Ukraine\u2019s critical shortage of interceptor missiles for the U.S.-made Patriot systems,<\/a> the sole air defense weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles. Zelenskyy has pleaded with other countries to send more of the ammunition made scarcer by the Iran war<\/a>.<\/p>\n Supplies of air defense missiles to Ukraine during the first half of this year tumbled to one-third of the 2025 level, Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n \u201cBallistic interceptors are what could have saved the lives of those killed today,\u201d Zelenskyy said on social media. \u201cIt is very important for our partners to understand that delays in supplying them, or a reluctance to hand over anti-ballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n Ukraine hits back with long-range drones<\/p>\n With U.S.-led peace efforts apparently stalled<\/a>, Ukraine has stepped up its deep strikes on key Russian targets such as oil refineries in an effort to compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate. Zelenskyy has accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump but Putin has refused.<\/p>\n In its latest attack on logistics facilities of Wildberries, Russia\u2019s biggest online retailer, Ukrainian drones hit a warehouse in the Tula region south of Moscow, the company and the region\u2019s governor said Wednesday.<\/p>\n It was the 14th Wildberries warehouse to catch fire in less than three weeks, according to a Ukrainian tally. Ukraine says the company provides goods that can be used by the military. Kyiv is also keen to unsettle the Russian public with high-profile attacks.<\/p>\n The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces downed 475 Ukrainian drones overnight over 16 Russian regions, as well as illegally annexed Crimea and the waters of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.<\/p>\n Russia says it struck war-related targets in the Kyiv region<\/p>\n Russia fired 24 ballistic missiles, four other missiles identified as either hypersonic Zircons or supersonic Oniks, and 115 drones, many of them jet-powered and harder to stop due to their speed, in the attack, Ukrainian authorities said. <\/p>\n The Russian Defense Ministry said it struck transport, logistics and distribution centers involved in military activity. It listed four targets in Kyiv, claiming they ran war-related operations.<\/p>\n