How Russian ballistic missiles are exploiting holes in Ukraine’s air defense

This photograph shows fire and smoke rising from a warehouse destroyed during massive Russian ballistic missile and drone strikes on the outskirts of Kyiv early on August 5, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images

The biggest threat to Ukraine’s cities can strike with little or no warning.

Over the past few months, Ukraine has put Russia on the back foot with strikes that have hit Russia’s oil refining capacity, caused long lines at fuel stations and set commercial logistics centers alight. But Russia has exploited a key Ukrainian vulnerability – a dearth of ballistic-missile interceptors – to launch terrifying, high-speed missile attacks on Ukrainian cities combined with other long-range strikes that have claimed hundreds of civilian lives.

On one night alone this week, a barrage of more than two dozen ballistic and anti-ship missiles hit the Ukrainian capital region. All of the missiles slipped past Ukrainian defenses, killing least 17 people and wounding dozens more.

The massive Russian air attacks on Ukraine are complex: An attack concentrating on the Kyiv and Lviv regions on the night of June 30 saw Russia launch four anti-ship missiles, nine ballistic missiles, 61 cruise missiles and close to 300 strike drones at targets around the country, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

But Russian ballistic missiles appear to be the threat that has Ukrainian’s leadership most worried. Russia’s ballistic missile broadsides against Ukraine come as Kyiv desperately seeks to replenish its supply of US-made Patriot air-defense missile interceptors, one of the few weapons capable of knocking down a ballistic missile.

How long have ballistic missiles been in use?

Ballistic missiles are not new to warfare: Nazi Germany debuted the V-2 rocket during World War II and the “war of the cities” during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s saw duelling rounds of Scud missiles – descendants of the V-2 – wreak havoc on civilian populations. But the technology for defeating ballistic missiles has advanced significantly since the Cold War. The Patriot’s PAC-3 interceptor steers directly into its target, destroying it with sheer kinetic energy rather than with an explosive warhead – in shorthand, a bullet hitting a bullet.

In a statement Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded for more interceptors.

“Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today,” he said. “It is very important that our partners understand that delays in supplying them, or an unwillingness to provide anti-ballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction. Partners who are not yet ready to play a more active role in supplying interceptors can help by implementing new sanctions. A significant share of Russia’s ballistic missile production is still not under sanctions.”

What are the key threats to Ukraine’s cities?

The threat to Ukraine cities can be largely boiled down to three broad categories: ballistic missiles, cruise missile and drones, all typically launched from inside Russian territory or occupied portions of Ukraine. Closer to the front lines, Russians have employed smaller attack drones to terrorize civilian areas in Ukraine, targeting gas stations and vehicles. Earlier this week, a food vendor in the southern Kherson region narrowly survived an attack by an FPV drone, in an attack commonly described as a “drone safari.”

Ukraine has already showcased its prowess and ingenuity in countering Russian drones. The devices are relatively cheap and plentiful: Russia mass-produces the Geran-2, a version of the Iranian-designed Shahed drone, and has introduced upgrades including jet engines as well as decoy drones to up the effectiveness of its drone strikes. But Ukraine has a layered array of defenses against the relatively slow-flying ones, and its counter-drone expertise has been in demand following the US-Iran war.

Cruise missiles typically carry a much larger payload than a drone. Propelled by jet engines, they typically can fly close to the ground to evade detection. The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance says the Kalibr – a sea-launched cruise missile deployed by Russian surface ships and submarines – can cruise about 20 meters over the sea or 50 meters above ground.

A ballistic missile, by contrast, has a very different speed and trajectory. Boosted by rocket engines, the missile follows a high arc before descending to its target. The ranges vary, but speeds are extreme: the short-range Russian Iskander ballistic missile flies at six to seven times the speed of sound and can carry up to 700 kilograms of explosives. A long-range intercontinental ballistic missile – originally designed to loft nuclear warheads out of the atmosphere before they re-enter – can fly from a launch site in the United States over the Arctic Circle to a target in Russia in the time it takes to deliver a pizza, 30 minutes or less. In recent attacks on Kyiv, air-raid sirens have sounded at the same time as impacts.