KYIV: Russia fired missiles and drones into apartment buildings in Kyiv for the second time in a week Monday, killing at least 22 people on the eve of a crucial Nato summit, Ukrainian authorities said.

The attack hit just days after another Russian strike killed more than 30 people in the Ukrainian capital.

President Volodymyr Zelensky — expected to hold talks with US counterpart Donald Trump at the Nato summit in Turkiye — urged the Atlantic alliance to take “strong decisions” on boosting Ukraine’s air defences, with the European Union also saying Kyiv needed reinforcements.

As rescuers pulled bodies from the rubble in Kyiv, Nato chief Mark Rutte said in the Turkish capital, Ankara: “Allies and Nato partners must continue to ensure Ukraine gets what it needs.” The morning strike punched a crater into a multi-storey apartment block in Kyiv’s Podilsky district, ripping its floors in two.

Reporters heard more than 10 explosions during a ballistic missile alert at night, with flashes in the sky as the blasts rang out. Fifteen people were killed in the capital, and another seven in Vyshneve, a town just outside Kyiv, authorities said.

Ukraine’s interior ministry said almost 90 people had been wounded in the strikes. It was the second attack in a week in which Russia deployed hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles -- prompting Zelensky to make a fresh appeal for allies to send missiles for US-made Patriot air defence systems.

“Our warriors performed well today in intercepting drones and cruise missiles, but unfortunately not Russian ballistic missiles,” Zelensky said. “And the reason lies in the insufficient supply of interceptor missiles,” he added.

He called for Kyiv’s American and European allies to commit to strengthening Ukraine’s air defences at the Ankara summit, which begins Tuesday. Russia fired 68 missiles and 351 attack drones, Zelensky said.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2026