Volodymyr Zelensky’s missile plea as fresh Russian blitz kills nine in Ukraine's Kyiv

Volodymyr Zelensky’s missile plea as fresh Russian blitz kills nine in Ukraine's Kyiv The Kremlin’s barrage overnight into Saturday is said to have wounded dozens of people, with Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky calling for ballistic missile interceptors Volodymyr Zelensky has made a plea for ballistic missile interceptors after a fresh Russian blitz on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv left at least nine dead. The Kremlin’s barrage of ballistic missiles and drones overnight into Saturday also wounded 33 people, authorities said. It follows Moscow’s attack two days earlier which killed at least 10 people and injured more than 50 others across Ukraine. The latest strikes prompted Ukraine’s president Zelensky to stress the need for ballistic missile interceptors – warning every night without them results in more casualties. Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday it had launched a massive strike against Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities and logistics centers in Kyiv. A five-storey residential building in the city's Solomianskyi District was damaged by falling debris and a fire broke out. Rescue workers evacuated 35 people from the upper floors of the building and two people died, with eight reported injured, including two kids, according to Ukraine's state emergency service. In Kyiv’s Darnytskyi District, seven people were killed and another 14 injured after the attack caused fires and damage to houses, vehicles, an administrative and non-residential building, the emergency services said. Elsewhere, emergency workers extinguished a fire in a non-residential building in the capital's Shevchenkivskyi district. Damage to commercial and residential buildings was reported in two other city districts. Zelensky has pressed the US and Western partners over Ukraine's need for more Patriot anti-ballistic missile defence systems to counter missile attacks from Russia. In a post on X, the leader on Saturday stressed the “shortage of ballistic missile interceptors… only encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives”. He added: “It is critical that partners hear that these capabilities are needed not somewhere in stockpiles for hypothetical scenarios, but here and now, to contain and stop the Russian war in Ukraine. Every package of ballistic missile interceptors saves the lives of our people. And every night without them results in more casualties.” At a NATO summit in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, last month, Donald Trump said the US would give Ukraine a licence to make Patriot systems. But he appeared to move away from the commitment on Friday during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, saying he had not yet made a final decision. From a basement shelter where she was taking cover as a second air alarm sounded for another wave, Liudmyla Nakonechna, 64, described how she was woken by loud explosions at 1.30am. Ms Nakonechna, whose health is poor after undergoing cancer treatment, said: "I ran into the corridor and was standing there when the bathroom door was blown off its hinges and struck me in the leg." Ms Nakonechna, who had not taken cover in a shelter since Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, but the stress became too much, added: "I heard the sound of shattering glass. My balcony was covered in glass and it was completely blown apart, while the windows in my bedroom were also blown out." "It's getting worse by the day. Whereas before there was an attack once every two weeks, or maybe once a week, now it happens practically every day. It is incredibly hard to bear this psychologically." In Russian-occupied Crimea, the Moscow-appointed head of the city of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Saturday that a 60-year-old woman was killed and two other people wounded in a drone attack on the city. Meanwhile, a sanctioned Russian container ship, the Yanina, sank in the Black Sea after being hit by Ukraine, Mr Zelensky said on Saturday, listing the ship as among facilities that sustain the war effort. A Russian airstrike killed one person and wounded five more in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, local officials said Saturday.