Russian missile barrage kills 12 in Kyiv

On the night of August 19-20, 2026, Russia launched a missile barrage against Kyiv, Ukraine, killing at least 12 people and wounding 33, according to Ukrainian authorities. The strikes hit 12 locations across the Darnytskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, and Solomianskyi districts, damaging residential buildings, a medical facility, and an educational institution. In Solomianskyi, the top two floors of a nine-story residential building were destroyed, and fires broke out on other floors. Emergency crews rescued people trapped under rubble. The attack is part of an intensified Russian campaign of ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv, aimed at constraining Ukraine's air defense stocks. Ukraine has limited systems capable of intercepting ballistic threats, and supplies of interceptor missiles for its US-made MIM-104 Patriot systems remain chronically constrained. US President Donald Trump had authorized Ukraine to obtain licenses to produce MIM-104 Patriot systems but later reversed that decision. Ukraine has intensified its own long-range strikes against military targets inside Russia to degrade Moscow's ability to sustain attacks.