Extract from ABC News
Fires rage in Kyiv after Russian missile, drone attack.
In short:
At least 26 people are dead after Russia fired missiles and drones into apartment buildings in the Kyiv region for the second time in a week.
The attack prompted renewed calls for the US and Europe to step up its support for Ukraine's air defences, with Kyiv unable to intercept any of the ballistic missiles fired by Russia at the capital.
What's next?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to discuss the war with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday.
Russia has fired missiles and drones into apartment buildings across the Kyiv region for the second time in a week, killing at least 26 people and wounding 60 on the eve of a crucial NATO summit, authorities said.
Ukraine's military was unable to down any of the 23 ballistic missiles fired by Russia, according to air force data, reflecting its increasing vulnerability to Moscow's strikes as stocks of its prized Patriot interceptor missiles run out.
Speaking in his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was "simply absurd that, in the modern world, production has still not been scaled up to the level actually required to protect people from ballistic terror".
Mr Zelenskyy is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Ankara on Wednesday. (Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko)
He said that Ukraine had the know-how to produce the weapons, and if it received US licences to manufacture US Patriot systems, "our production would be sufficient not only to defend Ukraine but also to assist partners who need them".
"As long as Patriot missiles sit in our allies' stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep destroying residential buildings," he wrote earlier on social media.
"The US and Europe have the power to stop this terror."
Kyiv residents heard around 10 explosions in the early hours of Monday morning. (AP: Efrem Lukatsky)
The Monday morning attack on the Ukrainian capital killed at least 16 people, with 10 more reported dead in the wider Kyiv region.
In Kyiv, nearly 30 buildings were significantly damaged. One strike punched a hole through a multi-storey apartment block, ripping its top floors in two.
A search operation dragged into Monday afternoon as crews combed the mountains of rubble and twisted metal looking for survivors.
Alyona, 22, was waiting to hear news about her 19-year-old friend Vika, who was missing after the attack.
"We're sitting here and waiting until they retrieve them … She's so kind, only 19 years old. She's such a kind girl," Alyona said as she watched from a nearby playground.
Reuters television footage showed what appeared to be human remains trapped beneath concrete debris on the upper floor of another building, while the bodies of an entire family — two parents and a child — were pulled from rubble there, according to Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
Locals in the northern Podilsky district of the capital said their area had been heavily targeted.
A frightened woman carries her cat out of a damaged multi-storey apartment in Kyiv. (AP: Efrem Lukatsky)
"At 1:30am, a powerful hit occurred. A blast wave; all the windows blew out. And then it hit three more times," Oleksandr Bakhlukov, who lives in a nearby building, said.
"Glass was falling down. There wasn't a single pane of glass left in the apartment," the 68-year-old added.
The attack was the second in a week in which Russia deployed its hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles, coming just days after another attack on Kyiv which killed 31 people on Thursday.
NATO summit key to Ukraine's defence
Russia's attack came on the eve of a two-day NATO summit in Ankara, where Mr Zelenskyy is set to discuss the war with US President Donald Trump.
Mr Zelenskyy has previously called for "strong decisions" at the summit, saying it is "critically important" that the US and Europe increase support for Ukraine's air defences, a call backed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The White House said Mr Trump would meet Mr Zelenskyy on Wednesday in a bid to invigorate diplomacy, while Mr Trump himself — who often makes wildly optimistic claims about the war — said a resolution was "getting closer than people realise".
Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin previously held a "businesslike and highly constructive" 90-minute phone call on July 4, according to Russia's foreign ministry.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin and Mr Trump had agreed to talk again "in the near future", suggesting they were likely to talk during or after his meeting with Mr Zelenskyy.
Russia steps up air war efforts
Russia's defence ministry acknowledged Monday morning's missile and drone attack on Ukraine, calling it a "massive strike" that targeted "military-industrial enterprises", fuel and energy complex facilities across the country.
Moscow has escalated its air war on Ukraine this year as its battlefield progress has slowed to a virtual crawl, hampered by Ukrainian long-range attacks on its military logistics and oil industry.
Mr Zelenskyy said Russia fired 68 missiles and 351 attack drones on Kyiv on Monday. (AP: Danylo Antoniuk)
Ukraine has also retaken territory in some areas along the 1,200-kilometre front line, despite Russia encroaching on the strategically important eastern city of Kostiantynivka.
Mr Zelenskyy on Saturday denied a Russian claim that the city had been captured.
Kyiv's military also said it had struck three Russian oil refineries, including the country's largest in Omsk, nearly 2,500 kilometres away, as well as two "shadow fleet" vessels in the Sea of Azov.
Mr Zelenskyy called the strike on Omsk "an important achievement" for Ukraine's military.
Kyiv has increasingly targeted energy facilities inside Russia in recent weeks in an effort to weaken the Kremlin's war effort, triggering fuel shortages across the country.
Russia's army said its forces also shot down more than 500 Ukrainian drones overnight, with Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, adding that several waves were bound for the Russian capital.
Wires/ABC
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