4 killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine as Zelensky pushes Trump for Patriot missiles

SCMP | July 31, 2026, 10:29 p.m. | Original

Russia has stepped up strikes ⁠on ⁠Kyiv in recent months, while Ukraine ‌is short of air defences capable of ‌downing ballistic ‌missiles

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Emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following Russian missile attacks in Kyiv on Saturday. Photo: AP
A fire erupts after massive Russian ballistic missile strikes in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Saturday. Photo: AFP
A driver gets out of a damaged vehicle near a residential building hit by a Russian missile strike on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Russian strikes on Ukraine ’s capital killed at least nine people and wounded more than a dozen others, local officials said on Saturday, after Kyiv’s mayor warned of a ballistic missile attack.
It comes after the United Nations found June was the deadliest month for civilians in Ukraine since April 2022.

Russia has stepped up long-range strikes ⁠on ⁠the capital in recent months, while Ukraine ‌is chronically short of air defences capable of ‌downing ballistic ‌missiles, which travel at ‌several times the speed of sound.

Kyiv’s emergency service said the strikes early on Saturday had killed nine people.

“Fires and destruction occurred in 5 districts of the capital,” the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Telegram, adding that 23 people were wounded in the ballistic missile attack.

The city’s mayor reported two boys aged 13 and 17 were among the wounded.

“Explosions in the city. Kyiv is under ballistic missile attack. Stay in shelters!” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote earlier

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