BROVARY, Ukraine -- Russian overnight drone and ballistic missile strikes killed at least 17 people in the Kyiv region, as Ukraine warned of critical air defense shortages and urged its allies to hasten deliveries of urgently needed air defense missiles.
"Russia has once again brought death and destruction to our land, taking the lives of civilians," Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration, wrote on Telegram on August 5.
Tkachenko added that the highest death toll was recorded in the Brovary district, where 10 people were killed. Among the dead were eight people who had been waiting at a railway station for a delayed train.
In recent years, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine's railway infrastructure, disrupting civilian routes and seeking to hinder the country's vital humanitarian and military shipments to frontline regions.
Reporting from the scene in Brovary, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service captured shocking images showing bodies scattered across the station, as emergency workers were deployed to the site.
Russian strikes on August 5 also killed five people in the Bucha district and one person in the Fastiv district, Tkachenko said, while Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that another person had been killed in the attack on the capital itself. At least 44 other people were injured.
Elsewhere, Russian strikes also targeted the Sumy, Zaporizhzhya, and Donetsk regions, killing at least four people.
The Ukrainian military said that Russia launched an attack on Ukraine using 24 ballistic missiles, four hypersonic missiles, and 115 drones, with the Kyiv region as the primary target.
It added in a separate statement that Ukrainian air defenses shot down or suppressed 98 Russian drones but intercepted none of the missiles launched, marking a rather rare occurrence in recent years.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the attack on Kyiv and the surrounding area, saying it targeted transport, logistics, and distribution centers with precision weapons and long-range drones.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has been pushing the United States and Kyiv's European allies in recent months to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems, said on X that "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," he added.
Since the beginning of the year, Russia has managed to capture only a small amount of territory, marking a sharp slowdown compared with previous months. However, with Ukraine facing severe shortages of air defense systems capable of intercepting high-speed ballistic missiles, Moscow has stepped up its missile attacks.
Following the Russian attack on August 5, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the European Union is making a further 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion) available to Ukraine, using the proceeds from immobilized Russian assets, saying that "Russia must pay for the destruction it has caused."
"Once again, we wake up to the news of horrible atrocities committed by Russia through its aerial attacks on Ukraine," von der Leyen said. She added that new funds "will support Ukraine's continued resistance against Russia's illegal war."
Meanwhile, authorities in Russia's Tula region, which borders Moscow, reported that another facility belonging to Wildberries, the country's largest online retailer, had been hit by drones.
Images posted on social media showed thick plumes of black smoke rising from the facility. Ukrainian officials have not commented on the attack.
Kyiv has sought to disrupt Wildberries' operations in recent weeks, accusing the company of aiding Russia's war against Ukraine by supplying goods that have military purposes.
In recent weeks, Ukrainian forces have struck more than 20 warehouses belonging to Wildberries across multiple Russian regions.
Separately, Russian state news agency TASS reported on August 5 that the head of Uraldronzavod, one of Russia's leading drone manufacturers, was injured in a car explosion in Yekaterinburg, with his security guard killed.
There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian authorities.
