Russian missile and drone barrage in Ukrainian capital region kills 17
[August 05, 2026]
By HANNA ARHIROVA
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and the
surrounding region killed 17 people and wounded 44 others overnight into
Wednesday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Russia fired 24 ballistic missiles, four other missiles identified as
either hypersonic Zircons or supersonic Oniks, and 115 drones, many of
them jet-powered, in the attack. Zelenskyy said the strikes mainly
targeted warehouses belonging to civilian businesses, as well as
infrastructure and a railway station, hitting sites that he described as
“with no connection to the war” — including a brewing company, building
materials warehouses and civilian logistics facilities.
The attack was the latest in a series of large-scale Russian ballistic
missile strikes that have become near-routine this summer. Ukraine has a
limited stockpile of interceptor missiles for the U.S.-made Patriot
systems, the sole air defense system in its arsenal able to shoot down
ballistic missiles, making large volleys like Wednesday’s hard to stop,
even as Ukraine has stepped up deep strikes on Russian oil refineries
and energy infrastructure.
“Ballistic interceptors are what could have saved the lives of those
killed today," Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram. "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.”
In the wider Kyiv region around the capital, there were fires at
multiple locations in Brovary, Bucha and Fastiv districts, Ukraine’s
emergency service said. Large warehouse fires burned in the city of
Brovary and the villages of Velyka Dymerka, Kvitneve and Peremoha. A
fire involving vehicles at an enterprise in Fastiv district was
extinguished. In Bucha district, crews battled a warehouse fire in the
village of Chaiky after putting out a separate fire at a logistics
facility in Sofiivska Borshchahivka.
In the capital, emergency crews extinguished all fires sparked by the
strikes in the Obolonskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, Holosiivskyi and Desnianskyi
districts, the Kyiv City Military Administration said.
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Firefighters put out a fire after Russian missiles hit a warehouse
in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s president on defense
technology development, 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.
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. Russia hit two of the company’s key
logistics hubs.
A direct hit also destroyed the production floor of its ceramic tile
factory, forcing the company to halt manufacturing there and shift
production abroad, with full recovery expected to take up to two
years, the company said. Epicentr also voiced support for other
Ukrainian businesses damaged in the attack, saying it understood
“how many years of work, effort, faith and daily responsibility
stand behind every enterprise.”
Ukraine has carried out its own campaign against Russian retail
logistics, striking multiple warehouses belonging to Wildberries —
often described as Russia’s answer to Amazon — as part of a broader
effort to damage Moscow’s economy and confront Russians with the
costs of the war.
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