Zelenskyy: Russia Fires 16 Ballistic Missiles, 280 Drones at Ukraine
The president attributed damage in Kyiv and other regions to delays in Western air defense deliveries.
By Kaito Sokolov ·
Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on Monday that Russian forces launched 16 ballistic missiles and more than 280 drones at Ukraine during the night between October 26 and 27. The president stated that the strikes hit Kyiv, including the Pivdennyi Bridge, and targeted energy infrastructure, logistics hubs, and urban facilities across the country.
The overnight barrage followed an earlier attack on the evening of October 26. That initial strike struck a university campus and surrounding areas, injuring 12 people, including five students and staff members. Zelenskyy said Russian forces fired additional ballistic missiles while emergency crews were still managing the aftermath of the first attack.
The military strike combined Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles with 280 Shahed drones. Of those drones, 69 were jet-powered. The attack also included Gerbera attack drones and Parodiya decoy UAVs. Zelenskyy identified Kyiv as the primary target but noted that strikes were recorded in the Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Kherson, and Chernivtsi regions.
Ukrainian air defense forces reported destroying or jamming 257 Russian aerial assets by 09:00 on October 27. This total included two Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles and 255 drones. Among the intercepted drones were 56 jet-powered Shaheds.
Zelenskyy linked the scale of the damage to recent delays in Western air defense supplies. He stated that artificial and prolonged delays in delivering interceptor packages for Patriot and NASAMS systems are directly helping Russia achieve its military objectives.
The president had raised this issue on October 26. He announced that Kyiv had waited nearly a month for Pete Hegseth to approve missiles for the Patriot and NASAMS systems. Zelenskyy instructed his team to revisit the matter with the United States side.
The overnight attack represented a serious escalation in Russian operations against Ukrainian logistics. Zelenskyy described the strikes as a coordinated effort to degrade critical infrastructure. The damage assessment remained preliminary as recovery efforts continued in the affected regions.
