5 people killed in Russian drone strikes on Kiev coinciding with the announcement of the production of Patriot missiles

Russian drone strikes resulted in the deaths of 5 people, Friday, in broad daylight in Kiev, including a 14-year-old boy, after Ukraine announced that it had obtained final approval from Donald Trump to produce “Patriot” air defense missiles locally.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Friday that his American counterpart had decided to allow Kiev to produce Patriot air defense missiles, after a long debate on this issue.

Shortly after the announcement, a broad daylight strike on a building containing offices in Kiev resulted in the death of four people and the wounding of at least seven, including a child, according to what Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

An Agence France-Presse correspondent saw passers-by running for cover in the street to the sound of the roar of a jet drone.

While people were on their way to work in the morning, a drone hit a residential building in the city, killing a 14-year-old boy, according to the municipality.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the boy had Israeli citizenship, and that his mother was among the injured.

These strikes resulted in the injury of more than 30 people, according to Vitali Klitschko.

“Technological race”

At the site of the morning attack, Agence France-Presse journalists saw residents gathering around a multi-storey building, with apartments on the ninth and tenth floors damaged as a result of the attack.

Outside the damaged building where he lives, Mikita Sysoev (23 years old) said that he woke up to the sound of an explosion, but he did not realize that the strike had targeted the building until after he saw the news.

He added: “I was very surprised. It's strange. On the one hand, I have become accustomed to the strikes, but on the other hand, deaths continue to occur.”

In response to a question about the increase in drone strikes, he said: “It is a technological race and a technological war... Unfortunately, people will suffer while solutions are searched.”

Zelensky condemned the attack, describing it as “a brutal and horrific strike that has nothing to do with any military logic.” He later indicated that a warehouse belonging to the McDonald's fast food chain was hit near Kiev.

Attacks in broad daylight

In the Odessa region (south), a person was killed in a new strike targeting a postal facility that had previously been targeted, according to the authorities.

Ambulance personnel were forced to evacuate seven patients from a hospital in Zaporizhya following a Russian raid that damaged the building and caused a fire, resulting in two people being injured.

Russia is targeting the Ukrainian capital with newly developed jet drones that have succeeded in bypassing some Ukrainian interceptor systems. After Moscow mainly targeted Kiev during the night hours, it now launches many attacks in broad daylight.

For its part, Ukraine has intensified its strikes on Russia in recent months, especially targeting army and energy facilities.

From Thursday night to Friday, Ukrainian strikes hit two oil refineries, a military factory, and an army radar in several Russian regions, according to what Zelensky revealed via Telegram.

On Friday, Moscow accused Kiev of bombing a civilian vehicle transporting humanitarian aid in a Russian-occupied area in southern Ukraine, killing three volunteers.

No immediate effect

Zelensky said in an audio recording to reporters days after his meeting with US President Donald Trump in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly: “In our last meeting, the president assured me that he had made a final decision. “Ukraine will obtain licenses to produce Patriot missiles.”

If this project becomes a reality, it would represent a major advance for Ukraine, which is striving to obtain PAC-3 interceptor missiles for the only Patriot systems capable of shooting down ballistic projectiles.

But it is a project that takes a long time, and will not have any immediate impact on the field situation at the present time.

The Ukrainian president said earlier this week that the start of production of Patriot missiles in Ukraine may take “a year or a year and a half.”

He pointed out in July that the country needed at least 30 Patriot missiles during the winter, when Russia usually intensifies its strikes on the energy system, plunging millions of Ukrainians into darkness and cold.

Since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine has modernized its air defense systems and developed a wide range of interceptor drones that allow it to neutralize the bulk of Russian attack drones.