Ukraine said on Wednesday that its air defenses, using a stockpile of anti-aircraft missiles recently replenished by allies including the United States, shot down 29 of 30 missiles fired at it by Russia overnight and brought down an exploding drone, the highest interception rate Ukraine has had so far during the war.
In Kiev, authorities said they shot down all missiles and drones aimed at the capital that exploded as they approached or flew over the city. The aerial showdown took place shortly before 3 a.m. between mainly Western-supplied air defenses and incoming Russian missiles.
Ukraine was already running dangerously low on anti-aircraft ammunition earlier this year. Commanders of some missile launchers said they were rationing their missiles, allowing Russian missiles to fly in unimpeded. Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a meeting on economic aid to Ukraine that the Ukrainian military needed more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems.
The Biden administration has decided to provide Ukraine with an additional set of Patriot missile systems, including launchers, missile stocks and powerful radar antennas for finding targets. Other countries are also considering transferring Patriot missile launchers to Ukraine. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said this week that Germany has organized a donation of 100 missiles from its inventory as well as those of Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, of which 32 have been delivered so far.
Flashes lit up the skyline and explosions were heard during Wednesday’s attack, with authorities saying one civilian was injured by falling debris.
“The enemy has once again launched a missile attack on the capital,” a military official in Kiev said in a post on the social networking site Telegram. The attack was typical of recent Russian attacks, using a variety of weapons, including drones and cruise missiles. The strategy is designed to overload Ukraine’s air defenses.
The cruise missiles were launched by bombers in Russian airspace and were expected to arrive in Kiev at the same time as the Iranian-designed Shahed explosive drones. In the attack, Russia also fired three ballistic missiles, an Iskander medium-range land-launched ballistic missile and two air-launched Kinzhal missiles, which are fired from aircraft and travel at extremely high speeds, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Ukrainian and Western officials say Patriot interceptors are the only defense against Kinzhal missiles.
Ukraine shot down five of the six missiles and all 24 Shahed drones, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement that could not be independently confirmed.
Ukraine’s interception rate of drones and missiles fell in the first months of this year compared with the same period last year due to insufficient anti-aircraft ammunition and Russian tactics to evade defenses.
The average drone kill rate in the 12 months to April was about 80%. Ukrainian Air Force data showsData shows that the missile interception rate has dropped below 50% in some months this year.
In neighboring Poland, the military said it had sent warplanes to defend its airspace as Russian missiles flew into Ukraine.
In another post on Telegram, the city’s military chief, Ruslan Kravchenko, said a civilian in Kiev suffered a leg injury on Wednesday from falling debris. Falling missile debris also caused two fires.
Interceptor fragments — sometimes small silvery metal shards, sometimes heavy rocket engines — rained down on Kiev in the aftermath of the engagement, often killing and wounding people, both from the interceptors and from incoming Russian missiles.
Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine have mainly targeted power plants, knocking out about half of the country’s generating capacity as of this month. The Ukrainian government has implemented rolling blackouts across the country as a result.
Natalia Novosolova contributed to this article.
