Russia has unleashed one of its largest ballistic missile barrages at Kyiv since the start of the war, killing at least one person and wounding 16 others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

A series of powerful blasts echoed across Ukraine’s capital city in an attack involving 41 missiles which started fires in several districts, the air force said on Sunday, .

Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said nearly 600 rescue workers, medics, police officers and other emergency personnel were responding to the aftermath of the strikes.

Acting Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the missile barrage targeting Kyiv was the largest since the war began in February 2022.

The latest bombardment highlights the mounting challenges facing Ukraine, which is now in its fifth year of war as it weathers almost daily Russian attacks amid a shortage of Patriot air defence missiles, the munition most capable of downing ballistic missiles.

Domestic tensions are also high following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s removal of his defence minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle. That has provoked protests on the streets and dismay among many Ukrainian soldiers.

Some critics said his decision to replace Mykhailo Fedorov just as Ukraine appeared to be gaining momentum in the war was the worst mistake of his presidency.

In an attack on Kharkiv, at least four people were killed when Russia struck a postal depot in Ukraine’s second-largest city. Local media say the facility was hit three times.

Elsewhere, one person died following an attack in Zaporizhia, while two people were killed during Russian shelling in the Donetsk region.

Kherson’s Regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported that two people had been killed in Russian attacks, including a 75-year-old woman.

In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Regional Governor Oleksandr Haznha confirmed that one person had been killed in a drone attack. Haznha said Russian drones struck two districts 10 times, damaging residential buildings.

A 16-year-old boy was killed in the Black Sea city of Odesa in a Russian attack on an amusement park. Twelve others were injured in the strike, which Moscow said targeted port infrastructure used by the Ukrainian army in Odesa.

In Sumy Oblast, Regional Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported that one person had been found dead under the rubble of a building after Russian attacks hit civilian infrastructure, including homes and an industrial area. Residents in some areas are without electricity following the strikes.

‘Brutal terrorist attack’

Russia’s strikes on Sunday sparked fires across Kyiv, damaging residential buildings, offices, industrial sites, a dormitory and vehicles, according to the State Emergency Service.

Rescue workers pulled four people from a burning private home in the Sviatoshynskyi district while, in the Shevchenkivskyi district, they rescued residents from a burning three-storey building. A fire in a non-residential building was also contained.

Firefighters also responded to blazes in the Solomyanskyi, Desnianskyi and Dnipro districts.

Sybiha called the ballistic missile barrage “a brutal terrorist attack on the Ukrainian capital” that demanded a firm response.

“We need devastating pressure on Moscow to end this terror,” he wrote in a post on X.

Kyiv’s military said it shot down almost half of the 41 ballistic missiles fired by Russia, while also intercepting 108 of the 125 drones.

Russia has launched several large-scale waves of attacks on Kyiv in July, using ballistic missiles on at least seven occasions at a time when Ukraine is short of Patriot interceptor missiles.

Ukraine also said its forces struck two Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea, continuing its strategy of trying to starve the Russian-occupied peninsula Crimea of fuel and supplies by targeting shipping.

United States President Donald Trump has said he is prepared to grant Ukraine licences to produce Patriot interceptor missiles domestically, potentially bolstering its defences, but the details and timeline of the move remain unclear.

Zelenskyy said on Sunday that “protection against ballistic missiles is our constant and top priority right now”.

“Interceptors are needed every day, and I am grateful to everyone who takes our agreements seriously and ensures the delivery of anti-ballistic capabilities,” he said in a post on X.