Russia unleashed one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months hours before Britain and Germany chaired a meeting Monday to discuss US President Donald Trump’s plans for NATO allies to provide Ukraine with weapons.
The drone and missile attack on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, killed two people and wounded 15, including a 12-year-old, according to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The deadly assault underscored the urgency of Ukraine’s need for further Western military aid, especially in air defence, a week after Trump said deliveries would arrive in Ukraine within days.
The Associated Press reports that a drone struck the entrance to a subway station in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district where people had taken cover. Videos posted on social media showed the station platform engulfed by smoke, with dozens inside. The heaviest strikes hit the city’s Darnytskyi district, where a kindergarten, supermarket and warehouse facilities caught fire.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who arrived in Kyiv on Monday for talks with Zelenskyy, visited some of the damaged area.
Zelenskyy and Barrot spoke about expanding defence cooperation, including a decision by French companies to start manufacturing drones in Ukraine, and advancing Ukraine’s path toward European Union membership, the Ukrainian leader said on social media.
Western defence chiefs meet on Ukraine
The virtual meeting of high-level military officials was led by British Defence Secretary John Healey and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO leader Mark Rutte, as well as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, attended the so-called Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting.
Ukraine’s new Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal urged allies to speed up deliveries of American air defence systems under the plan put forward by Trump.
“I request the US to make these weapons available for purchase, and our European partners to extend all the needed financing for their procurement,” Shmyhal, who until recently served as prime minister, told the meeting.
Trump’s arms plan, announced a week ago, involves European nations sending American weapons, including Patriot air defence missile systems, to Ukraine via NATO — either from existing stockpiles or buying and donating new ones.
In a shift of tone toward Russia, Trump last week gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.
Kyiv wants American-made Patriot missile systems
Germany has said it offered to finance two new Patriot systems for Ukraine and raised the possibility of supplying systems it already owns and having them replaced by the US.
But delivery could take time, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested, because “they have to be transported, they have to be set up; that is not a question of hours, it is a question of days, perhaps weeks.”
Other Patriot systems could come thanks to Switzerland, whose defence ministry said Thursday it was informed by the US Defence Department that it will “reprioritise the delivery” of five previously ordered systems to support Ukraine.
While Ukraine waits for Patriots, a senior NATO official said the alliance is still coordinating the delivery of other military aid — such as ammunition and artillery rounds — which includes aid from the US that was briefly paused. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
In a video address, Zelenskyy said another round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations was planned for Wednesday. He said he discussed the preparations with Rustem Umerov, who led the Ukrainian team in the previous two rounds, but didn’t give further details.
Ukraine fires drones at Moscow
The overnight Russian barrage of Kyiv began shortly after midnight and continued until around 6am. Residents were kept awake by machine-gun fire, buzzing drone engines and multiple loud explosions.
It was the first major attack on Kyiv since Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, arrived in the city last Monday. Russia halted strikes during his visit.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its attack used drones and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. It said the barrage successfully targeted airfield infrastructure and Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 426 Shahed and decoy drones overnight and on Monday, as well as 24 missiles of various types. It said 200 drones were intercepted with 203 more jammed or lost from radars.
Ukraine, meanwhile, continued to deploy its domestically produced long-range drones. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces shot down 74 Ukrainian drones overnight, almost a third of them destroyed close to the Russian capital.
Twenty-three drones were shot down in the Moscow region, the ministry said, 15 of which were intercepted over the city itself.