Russia's ballistic missile and jet-propelled drone blitz keeps Kyiv on edge

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired ballistic missiles and dozens of jet-powered drones at Kyiv, Ukraine’s air force said Tuesday, as Moscow seeks to make Ukraine buckle under the pressure of day-and-night bombardment of its capital and other cities.

The Russian onslaught has used new jet-powered drones that fly too fast and too high for Ukrainian ground-based air defenses to shoot down.

Ukraine is scrambling to keep pace by developing faster interceptor drones, in the latest example of how the war has driven military innovation, but making and deploying new weapons takes months.

Russia’s ballistic missiles have also got through as Ukraine is desperately short of U.S.-made Patriot air defense interceptor missiles, which are the only reliable way of stopping Moscow’s ballistic attacks.

Patriot stockpiles are low, largely because of the Iran war, and Ukraine has received only small numbers of them this year despite President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pleading. Ukraine said that its air defenses shot down two ballistic missiles overnight, which suggested that Kyiv had recently received some more Patriots.

Air defense needs are mounting with the approach of the bitter winter months, which in the years since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022 have brought an escalation of strikes on Ukraine’s power grid. That strategy denies Ukrainian civilians heating and running water, among other things.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces hit data processing centers in Kyiv that Moscow says are used by the Ukrainian military, which is increasingly deploying artificial intelligence on the battlefield.

Other Russian targets included facilities in the Ukrainian capital and the Kyiv region where drones and cruise missiles were stored, as well as an electrical substation, a drone manufacturing facility, and port infrastructure facilities in the southern Odesa region, the ministry said.

Ukrainian authorities said that the barrage hit apartment buildings, houses and public transportation in Kyiv, wounding one person.

In Odesa, the attack wounded eight people overnight and damaged residential buildings, civilian infrastructure, a school, an animal shelter and port infrastructure, local officials said.

Ukraine hasn’t sat back in the face of the Russian blitz. Its long-range drones have targeted Russian missile and drone manufacturing plants and launch sites. It also has hit Russian oil refineries, causing fuel shortages.

The two armies are largely deadlocked on the long front line in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Zelenskyy says that Moscow intends to increase recruitment for another battlefield push.

He said late Monday that another 10,000 North Korean troops are heading to Russia, adding to the 8,000 he said are already there.