July 8 (Reuters) – Russia fired ballistic missiles at Kyiv again overnight, officials said on Wednesday, a third attack on the Ukrainian capital in less than a week exploiting Ukraine’s critical shortage of U.S.-made air-defence interceptors.
The new attack comes with the NATO summit underway in Ankara, where U.S. President Donald Trump is due to hold talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
While Ukraine’s air defences intercepted more than 80% of the 169 drones used during the overnight strikes on the country, they were again unable to down any of the five ballistic missiles used by Russia, air force data showed.
Moscow has stepped up its air war on Ukraine in recent months as its ground advances have largely stalled and Ukrainian attacks on its military logistics and oil industry triggered widespread fuel shortages.
In July alone, Russian strikes at the Ukrainian capital and surrounding region have killed 60 people.
A woman was killed and further two people were wounded in the overnight attack on Kyiv, said the head of the city’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the strikes had caused fires in a storage area and a non-residential building in two districts on either side of the Dnipro River.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city, also came under missile attack, local officials said, reporting damage to private homes and a church.
Zelenskiy has repeatedly pleaded for U.S.-made interceptors — the only weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal that can shoot down ballistic projectiles, whose high velocity and steep flight path make them difficult to stop.
He is expected to raise the issue with Trump during their meeting at the summit on Wednesday.
Trump, who had spoken with both Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the summit, said on Tuesday in Ankara he believed the war could be “settled, hopefully soon”.
Putin has said he will press ahead with his war despite the mounting difficulties for Russia. Moscow has demanded that Kyiv cede the rest of its eastern Donetsk region that it has been unable to conquer in more than four years of fighting.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, Ron Popeski; Editing by Nia Williams and Lincoln Feast)
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