Zelenskyy: More than 100 ballistic missiles launched at Kyiv in two weeks
Key Facts
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 27 October that Russia had launched more than 100 ballistic missiles at Kyiv and the Kyiv region in two weeks, since 14 October. The tally combines several missile attacks targeting the capital and its outskirts over a short period, according to a statement published on the Ukrainian president’s official website. Zelenskyy linked the difficulty of countering the missiles to a shortage of interceptors, saying Ukraine “does not have enough missiles for Patriot systems.” He added that supplies of air defense packages face “significant restrictions” and are delayed. The statement came as the attacks, according to his account, hit several Ukrainian regions and damaged civilian and transport facilities in Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said the strikes in Kyiv damaged residential buildings, a metro station and metro lines, and that a missile also hit the South Bridge. He described the bridge as one of the capital’s main logistics arteries, placing transport damage alongside the residential damage he cited. His account of the attacks was not limited to the capital: he named Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Kharkiv, Sumy and Kherson among the cities and regions hit. The list broadens the scope of the attacks he cited, from Kyiv to cities across the country. He said Kyiv had faced repeated missile attacks since 14 October, the period he used to calculate the tally of more than 100 ballistic missiles.
In an attack spanning the night of 26 to 27 October, Zelenskyy said Russia launched 16 ballistic missiles and more than 280 drones across 11 Ukrainian regions. His statement did not say that the 16 missiles targeted Kyiv alone; the Associated Press reported that ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a university in the capital, killing one person and injuring 12, according to city officials, as of its report published on 27 October. The Ukrainian air force, according to a report by the Kyiv Independent, provided separate details about the attack on Kyiv: 280 drones, including 69 jet-powered ones. It said air defenses shot down two ballistic missiles and shot down or electronically neutralized 255 drones. The interception and neutralization figures came from the air force statement, while the agency attributed the casualty toll to city officials.
Kyiv came under another missile attack on 22 October, when Zelenskyy said 21 ballistic missiles reached the capital in 3 waves. The Associated Press reported that one person was killed in Kyiv and said 3 of the missiles carried cluster munitions. The agency reported that attacks across Ukraine killed at least 4 people and wounded dozens, according to officials, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” on Wednesday to resume trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States. The agency attributed to Zelenskyy the statement that Russia had carried out 170 strikes on critical energy facilities since 11 October, as Ukraine prepared for the cold winter months. That statement does not specify 22 October as the end date for the tally of strikes on energy facilities.
Zelenskyy said on 14 October that a Russian strike damaged a residential building and a major power station in Kyiv, and announced then that one person had been killed and 6 injured. The following day, he said Russia had launched about 1,000 drones from the start of the previous day until the time of his statement, amid attacks on energy infrastructure and residential buildings. These statements provide background for the period from which the tally of ballistic missiles on Kyiv and the region began, but concern drone counts and damage on separate dates. Regarding the latest attack, Zelenskyy cited damage to housing, the metro and the bridge, while air force statements covered the interception of missiles and drones. He said delayed supplies and restrictions on air defense packages constrained his country’s ability to counter ballistic missiles.
On the diplomatic track, Zelenskyy said on 23 October that negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States had agreed to hold a technical meeting in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November, expressing hope it would be followed by a meeting between the countries’ leaders. That differed from his statement on 27 October, when he said he expected a trilateral format in November without specifying the first half of the month. Zelenskyy also said any peace deal would require strong security guarantees for Ukraine and funding for its army for 10 years. These statements place the expected technical meeting within a broader negotiating process as the strikes announced by Zelenskyy continued to target Kyiv and other regions. His 27 October statement did not give a specific date for the meeting.