Russia attacks Kyiv for third time in a week, kills three

By Gleb Garanich and Valentyn Ogirenko

KYIV, July ‌8 (Reuters) - Russia fired ballistic ​missiles at ​Kyiv overnight and sent jet-powered drones over the city throughout Wednesday, killing at least three people, officials said, as Moscow exploits Ukraine's critical shortage of U.S.-made interceptors.

The attacks coincided with a NATO summit in Ankara, where ‌President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and discussed the possibility of ⁠Ukraine obtaining licences to produce the interceptors.

One of the waves of drones sent by Russia hit a 25-storey building in the early afternoon, Kyiv's Mayor Vitali ‌Klitschko said on the Telegram app.

As well ‌as the three deaths, 13 people including a child were injured in the attacks, two of them seriously, Klitschko added.

Overnight explosions ripped across the Ukrainian capital just before the air raid siren sounded, Reuters witnesses said.

Two warehouses caught fire after ​the strikes and firefighters battled the flames from crane ladder platforms into Wednesday morning.

Later on Wednesday, a Russian attack on Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa killed four people and injured six, a senior local official said. The city, Ukraine's ⁠most important port, has been a frequent Russian target in the more than four-year-old war.

A Ukrainian drone struck an ambulance station outside a hospital in the town of ​Ivanivka, killing one hospital worker, the Russian-installed governor of parts of the southern Kherson region under Moscow's control said.

Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts from either side.

While Ukraine's air defences intercepted ​139 of the 169 drones during the overnight strikes on the country, ‌they were again unable to down any of the five ballistic missiles used by Russia, air force data showed.

INTENSIFYING AIR WAR

Moscow has stepped up its air war on Ukraine in recent months ⁠as its ground advances have largely stalled and Ukrainian attacks on its military logistics and oil industry triggered widespread fuel shortages.

In July alone, Russian strikes on Kyiv and its surrounding region have killed 60 people. Air defences have shot down just four out of 54 ballistic missiles fired ⁠by Russia this month, according to air force data.

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-biggest city, also came under missile attack overnight, local officials said, reporting damage to ​private homes and a church. Another missile strike on Wednesday on a residential building killed two, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Zelenskiy has repeatedly pleaded for U.S.-made interceptors — the only weapon in Ukraine's arsenal that can shoot down ballistic projectiles, whose high velocity and steep flight path make them difficult ‌to stop.

Trump, who had spoken with both Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the NATO summit, said on Tuesday in Ankara he believed the war could be "settled, hopefully soon".

Putin ‌has said he will press ahead with his war despite the mounting difficulties for Russia. Moscow has demanded that Kyiv cede the rest of ⁠its eastern Donetsk region that it has been ‌unable to conquer in more than four ​years of fighting.

In Russia, Ukraine's overnight drone attacks killed one person and damaged industrial sites, authorities said.

(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, Ron Popeski, additional reporting Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Nia Williams, Sharon Singleton, Gareth Jones ‌and Stephen Coates)

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