Ukrainian President Zelensky has again called on the United States to help deliver missiles. According to the president, these are needed for the Patriot air defense system.

Zelensky makes the call after last night’s large-scale Russian attacks on Ukraine. According to authorities, at least eighteen people were killed. More than a hundred people were injured.

“If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic and other missile attacks, these attacks will continue,” say Zelensky(opens in new window). “We count on the support of our partners and useful responses after today’s attack.”

The attacks mainly targeted Kyiv, Dnipro and the eastern cities of Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhia. Russia fired 73 missiles and 656 drones at Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force says. Of these, 40 missiles and 602 drones are said to have been neutralized.

Ballistic missiles in particular broke through air defenses. There were hits across the country from 30 ballistic missiles, 3 cruise missiles and 33 drones. The remains of destroyed drones also fell in some places.

Russian President Putin knows that Ukraine has too few defense missiles to eliminate ballistic missiles from the sky, says defense expert Patrick Bolder, affiliated with the HCSS research center in The Hague. “So what does he do: first fire a series of drones, to deplete the anti-aircraft system. Then a series of cruise missiles, which the fighter planes target. And then ballistic missiles.”

The Patriot missiles desperately needed by Ukraine are only made in the US, Bolder says. And according to him, the production capacity there is low. According to Bolder, the Americans will produce more of these missiles, “but then they will first go to their own stock, because they have also shot many of them in Iran.”

In several places people ended up under the rubble of collapsed buildings. The body of a 3-year-old child was recovered in Dnipro, as well as the bodies of a mother and her 8-year-old son.

Several apartments in Kyiv were damaged. Olena Dniprovska (65) and her husband Yevhen (64) were at home in their apartment in the capital during the attack. “I went out into the hallway with the phone. Before I realized what was happening, everything landed on my head,” she told the AP news agency. “The glass and door were blown away.”

She suffered head injuries. Her husband was also blown away by the pressure. “Now I have no place to live,” says Dniprovska. “The apartment is completely destroyed, no doors, no windows, no balcony. You can step straight from the room onto the street.”

More than a week ago, Russia also carried out a large-scale attack on Kyiv. Four people were killed.

Ukrainian President Zelensky warned yesterday of new Russian attacks. He urged residents to be extra alert to air raid sirens.