Russian Missile Barrage, Ukraine's Defences Curtailed

Russian Missile attacks on Kyiv, Atlantic Council

  

"The situation in Ukraine is difficult. There was another missile strike last night — ballistic missiles targeting our infrastructure. There were also attack drones."

"Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today. It is very important that our partners understand that delays in supplying them, or an unwillingness to provide anti-ballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction."

"[The number of air defence missiles supplied by partners] has dropped threefold compared with 2025."

"Our partners do have the missiles. It is important that the necessary political decisions on supplies and the acceleration of production processes are ultimately made."

"[More sanctions are required to] prevent the production of these ballistic missiles [along with] anti-ballistic capabilities [and] interceptor missiles."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  

Patriot missile battery: in simple terms, Ukraine does not have enough of them and their interceptors. TVP World

 

During the latest aerial bombardment of Kyiv and surrounding region, Ukrainian forces were unable to shoot down any of the missiles. A situation attributable to the lack of anti-ballistic systems supplied to Ukraine by its European partners in the conflict that Moscow has imposed against its neighbour. On August 5 as a result of a massive bombardment, 17 people were killed and 44 injured during the Kyiv attack. That Wednesday attack was the third in the space of a single week.

 

This, at a critical time for Ukraine's counteroffensive, when its president cautioned that his country no longer had any air defence interceptors. Overnight Wednesday Russia launched 24 ballistic and four hypersonic cruise missiles, accompanied with 115 attack drones. Constituting yet another war crime, by deliberately targeting civilian areas. A commission of outright criminal intent so normalized by Russian repeat performances that the targeting of civilian infrastructure no longer brings notice of international condemnation.

 

All of the missiles and drones struck targets. On the evidence, Russian forces appear to have expanded their civilian targets to now include Ukraine's major supermarket chains. The Russian Defence Ministry stated the "massive strike" it carried out resulted "in the destruction of transportation, logistics, and distribution centres in the city of Kyiv and the Kyiv region".  

 

Ukraine's reliance on the tried-and-true U.S.-designed Patriot air defence systems as its solution in shooting down Russian ballistic missiles gave it the success it required in intercepting a large number of them. Those very same interceptor missiles are now in short supply, partially as a result of the large numbers used during the war against Iran launched by U.S. and Israeli forces, and being carried on by the U.S. military.  

 

The Franco-Italian SAMP/T system could help fill the Patriot hole but comes at a cost.  TVP World

 

For their part, European governments which have been the chief military backers for Ukraine, are themselves wary of handing over more of their own Patriots in concern that to do so would certainly impact their own defences. Several European countries were prodded by the Trump administration early in the year, to deliver their Patriot missiles to Kyiv; some of whom declined, reflecting their unwillingness to find themselves short on self-defence.

 

Production of the U.S.-made batteries and other air defences, according to NATO officials, lags behind the pace of global conflict, a situation that affects not only the United States but other countries as well. A month earlier, a partial solution seemed in the offing when President Trump agreed to provide Ukraine with licenses to produce their own interceptor missiles, only to have the agreement rescinded, on second thought.

 

Stating that "a significant share" of the components used by Moscow and obtained abroad for its ballistic missile production were not under sanctions, President Zelenskyy called for Ukraine's allies to impose additional sanctions to rectify the situation. This latest attack destroyed commercial civic warehouses and logistics centres of some of the largest retail companies in Ukraine.

  

Police officers and security guard at the site of the building of a supermarket warehouse hit by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, August 5, 2026. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

 

"Today I was supposed to post about Rozetka turning 21. To thank our customers, partners, and team for this long journey we have travelled together."

"Instead, at night I watched as my life's work burned down after three ballistic missiles hit."

Iryna Chechotkina, co-founder, Rozetka, Ukraine's largest online marketplace  

A distribution warehouse in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary, where more than 100,000 orders were processed daily for Rozetka, Ukraine's largest online marketplace, was completely destroyed, with no hope of restoration possible. On the other hand, in recent weeks Ukrainian drones have bombarded warehouses operated by Russia's largest e-commerce marketplace, Wildberries.

 

Ukrainian drones on Wednesday attacked a facility in Russia's central Tula region, according to local officials and Telegram channels.  "Fire crews are working at the company’s logistics facility in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk region, where a fire broke out as a result of the attack. The facility was evacuated in advance. Acceptance of current deliveries has been temporarily restricted, and they are being redirected to other facilities", stated Wildberries.

 

Smoke rising from a Russian Wildberries logistics hub in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s Sverdlovsk region, August 7, 2026. (Source: Polkovnik Gsh)