Russian Barrage in Kyiv Kills 17       08/05 06:26

   

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- 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's President 
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

   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.

   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 
this summer. The intensified barrages are exploiting Ukraine's critical 
shortage of interceptor missiles for the U.S.-made Patriot systems, 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.

   Supplies of air defense missiles to Ukraine during the first half of this 
year tumbled to one-third of the 2025 level, Zelenskyy said.

   "Ballistic interceptors are what could have saved the lives of those killed 
today," Zelenskyy 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."

   Ukraine hits back with long-range drones

   With U.S.-led peace efforts apparently stalled, 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.

   In its latest attack on logistics facilities of Wildberries, Russia's 
biggest online retailer, Ukrainian drones hit a warehouse 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. Kyiv is also keen to unsettle the Russian 
public with high-profile attacks.

   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.

   Russia says it struck war-related targets in the Kyiv region

   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.

   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.

   Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said the war of attrition has 
entered a new phase. "The enemy is attacking everything indiscriminately -- 
retail warehouses, food storage facilities, logistics hubs, enterprises, 
building materials warehouses," he said on Facebook.

   It was not immediately possible to reconcile the different Russian and 
Ukrainian accounts of the military value of what was hit.

   Mykhailo Hukov, a 40-year-old Kyiv warehouse worker, said an air raid 
warning that included a ballistic missile threat sounded just after midnight, 
prompting an immediate evacuation order.

   "So everyone started running," he told The Associated Press. "I turned 
everyone around so they wouldn't go back inside for their backpacks."

   Minutes later, in an underground shelter, they heard "some very loud, very 
loud explosions."

   Ukraine's largest private postal operator, Nova Poshta, said a Russian 
cluster munition destroyed one of its sorting centers in Kyiv.

   The Russian Defense Ministry said the center was "storing and distributing 
dual-use goods, including those used in the production of long- and 
medium-range uncrewed aerial vehicles, as well as robotic systems and 
electronic warfare systems." It claimed that two other logistics centers in the 
Kyiv region stored drones or components for drones.

   Separately, the Russian ministry said its forces hit three bulk carriers on 
the Black Sea south of Odesa that it claimed were transporting weapons and 
military equipment for the Ukrainian armed forces. Ukrainian officials didn't 
comment on that claim.

   Truck drivers make a narrow escape

   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 AP. "I couldn't believe it. I'd already been in Kyiv and had heard 
explosions before, but nothing like today."

   One of the companies that came under heavy fire was Epicentr, one of 
Ukraine's largest retail and construction chains. It said in a statement on 
Facebook that "in minutes, Russian missiles destroyed what the company had 
built over decades." One employee was killed and three others were wounded.

   According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Epicenter logistics center 
handled order processing, sorting, storing, and delivery of dual-use goods and 
components for drone production.