Zelenskyy says interceptor delays ‘lead directly’ to casualties
Patriot systems are the sole air defense system in Ukraine’s arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles, and Zelenskyy said ballistic interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed in the attack. “Ballistic interceptors are what could have saved the lives of those killed today,” he said on social media. “It 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.”
The strikes mainly hit warehouses belonging to civilian businesses, as well as infrastructure and a railway station — sites Zelenskyy said have “no connection to the war,” including a brewing company, building materials warehouses and logistics facilities. Ukraine’s largest private postal operator, Nova Poshta, said a Russian cluster munition destroyed one of its sorting centers in Kyiv. Epicentr, a large retail and construction chain, said “in minutes, Russian missiles destroyed what the company had built over decades.” One Epicentr employee was killed and three others were wounded.
The Russian Defense Ministry gave a different account, saying it struck transport, logistics and distribution centers involved in military activity. It listed four targets in Kyiv and claimed the Epicentr logistics center handled “dual-use goods and components for drone production.” The competing claims could not immediately be reconciled.
The ministry also said its forces downed 475 Ukrainian drones overnight over 16 Russian regions, illegally annexed Crimea and the waters of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. It separately claimed that it hit three bulk carriers on the Black Sea south of Odesa that were transporting weapons and military equipment for the Ukrainian armed forces. Ukrainian officials did not comment on that assertion.
Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelenskyy on defense technology development, described a new phase in the war of attrition. “The enemy is attacking everything indiscriminately — retail warehouses, food storage facilities, logistics hubs, enterprises, building materials warehouses,” he said on Facebook.
Ivan Braga, a 46-year-old truck driver from Moldova who was in Kyiv during the attack, said he and a colleague ran from their vehicle when it was struck by shrapnel in a blast wave. “We didn’t even have time to grab our documents or anything else,” Braga told The Associated Press. “I couldn’t believe it. I’d already been in Kyiv and had heard explosions before, but nothing like today.”
With U.S.-led peace efforts apparently stalled, Ukraine has stepped up 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.
In its latest attack on logistics facilities, Ukrainian drones hit a warehouse of Wildberries, Russia’s biggest online retailer, in the Tula region south of Moscow, the company and the region’s governor said Wednesday. 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.