Zelenskyy cites delayed US interceptor deliveries after 16-missile attack

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X on the morning of October 27 that Russia launched 16 ballistic missiles and more than 280 drones at Ukraine during the night of October 26 and 27. He reported casualties in Kyiv, including a hit on the Pivdennyi Bridge, and said the strikes targeted logistics and urban infrastructure in Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Kherson, and Chernivtsi oblasts.

Zelenskyy linked the attack to a one-month delay in Washington approving interceptor packages for Patriot and NASAMS systems. He stated that the prolonged delays were directly helping Russia achieve its objectives. On October 26, the president announced that Kyiv had been waiting for US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to sign off on the missiles and instructed his team to discuss the matter with the US side again.

Earlier on the evening of October 26, a Russian strike on a university campus in Kyiv injured 12 people. Zelenskyy noted that five of the injured were students or university staff. He said that while emergency services handled the aftermath of that first strike, Russia deployed ballistic missiles again.

Ukrainian air defense forces reported that as of 09:00 on October 27, they had destroyed or jammed 257 Russian aerial assets. The breakdown included two Iskander-M or S-400 ballistic missiles and 255 Shahed, Gerbera, or other types of drones. Of the drones, 56 were jet-powered.

The next scheduled step is for Zelenskyy's team to hold further discussions with US officials regarding the interceptor deliveries.