Since arriving in Kyiv a few week and a half in the past, I’ve been amazed at how regular life was aside from the airstrikes. I anticipated some meals shortages however discovered eating places had been open and grocery shops had been full. Nevertheless, after a number of days of heavy Russian assaults, it appears some meals distribution facilities have been hit.
This was the primary time I noticed partially empty cabinets within the grocery shops. It wasn’t a scarcity of all the pieces, and nobody goes hungry. Nevertheless, it was the primary time I noticed that some merchandise had been lacking.
There was a desk within the entrance the place they usually have fruit on particular supply. This time, it was naked. An indication standing subsequent to the desk learn, “Not all the pieces is on the market. However all the pieces is tasty!” It went on to say, “Because of the penalties of the enemy assault, some dishes might briefly be unavailable.”
Ukrainian associates, each army and civilian, expressed their concern that Russia is focusing on not solely meals facilities but in addition vitality hubs and electrical energy era stations. Patriot missiles are wanted to guard these high-value targets, however the stockpiles are dwindling. If they aren’t replenished by winter, many individuals may freeze, significantly the aged and kids.
On August 5, 2026, Russia launched 24 ballistic missiles and 4 Zircon/Oniks anti-ship missiles at Kyiv and the encompassing area, together with 115 drones. Ukraine intercepted none of the 28 missiles, and the barrage killed 17 individuals and wounded 44. Ukraine’s Air Drive reported that air defenses shot down or disabled 98 of the 115 accompanying drones.
The strikes particularly hit retail and logistics infrastructure. Russia destroyed a sorting center belonging to Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s largest personal parcel service, and main services belonging to Epicentr, the nation’s largest home-improvement retailer. Websites belonging to grocery retailers Novus and Fozzy Group had been additionally hit. Silpo said six workers had been killed when fires broke out at two of its distribution facilities, and Rozetka’s CEO said a warehouse in Brovary was destroyed. Injury was additionally reported at services in Bucha and Fastiv.
Following an August 2 assembly on important infrastructure safety, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had acquired solely a 3rd as many air-defense interceptors this 12 months in contrast with the identical interval in 2025. The Patriot PAC-3 system stays the one system capable of intercept the ballistic missiles used within the strikes on Ukrainian vitality, gas, and food-distribution infrastructure.
Meals is underneath menace, however essentially the most urgent concern throughout winter can be heating. Russia’s Protection Ministry confirmed in January 2026 that its forces goal Ukrainian fuel-storage depots immediately, alongside vitality services, utilizing aviation, drones, missiles, and artillery. The tactic isn’t new. In 2022, a missile strike on the Kremenchuk refinery, mixed with assaults on oil depots, left 15 oil depots destroyed or broken nationwide, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attributed the ensuing gas queues and worth will increase to Russian focusing on of gas services.
Since January 2026, Russia has carried out more than 250 assaults on services belonging to Naftogaz as a part of a marketing campaign to scale back home gasoline manufacturing. Russian missile and drone campaigns have focused energy vegetation, substations, and transmission strains, lowering era capability and forcing rolling blackouts; the 2025–2026 winter left hundreds of thousands with out energy or warmth.
Fears of meals and vitality insecurity are intently tied to the Patriot missile scarcity. Patriots matter as a result of they’re the one system able to countering ballistic missiles. Patriot is a layered, long-range air protection system able to intercepting cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and plane. Every battery consists of an influence plant, radar set, engagement management station, launcher stations, an antenna mast group, and interceptor missiles, both PAC-2 or PAC-3 variants. Relying on the interceptor stocked, it could actually defend an space as much as 100 miles out.
Patriot doesn’t cowl each menace. Stinger fills the shorter-range hole. The FIM-92 is a shoulder-fired, man-portable missile system designed to supply short-range protection in opposition to low-flying plane, cruise missiles, and drones. It is usually mounted on the Avenger system, a Humvee-based platform carrying up to eight Stinger missiles, which protects important infrastructure and troop positions in opposition to unmanned aerial techniques and helicopters.
Whereas typing this report, I responded to an air raid alert and headed to the shelter. I heard two very loud explosions, and a army pal despatched me a message saying the missiles hit about 5 kilometers from my place. He mentioned the weapons used had been ballistic missiles. For a number of days, there had been intelligence {that a} ballistic missile assault was coming, and this once more underscores the necessity for Patriot missiles.
Ballistic missiles current a definite menace due to their excessive, quick, arcing trajectory on descent. Patriot is the only defense system able to intercepting them. NASAMS, IRIS-T, Gepard, Avenger, and Stinger cowl drones, cruise missiles, and helicopters, however none are constructed to catch a descending ballistic missile. Drones might be intercepted by a number of layered techniques; ballistic missiles have basically one line of protection, and Ukraine’s inventory of it’s working low.
Russia has steadily elevated its use of ballistic missiles, in addition to its assaults on important infrastructure. Russia fired 28 ballistic missiles at Ukraine in January 2025; by January 2026, that had risen to a month-to-month file of 91. Month-to-month totals by way of 2026 climbed further: 74 in January, 116 in February, 39 in March, 50 in April, 86 in Could, 96 in June, and 126 in July, a wartime file. Russia has fired a total of 650 ballistic missiles at Ukraine to this point this 12 months, in line with a New York Occasions evaluation of Ukrainian Air Drive information.
The Institute for the Examine of Warfare reported that Russia lowered the variety of strike drones utilized in its mass assaults in July 2026, utilizing ballistic missiles as an alternative to use Ukraine’s Patriot interceptor scarcity, launching 376 missiles and 4,606 drones that month in comparison with 181 missiles and 5,749 drones in June. Ukraine’s Protection Ministry reported an 89% interception fee in opposition to all air threats in June 2026, however solely 40% in opposition to ballistic missiles particularly. Within the two most up-to-date massive assaults, Ukraine downed just 2 of 36 ballistic missiles fired, roughly one in twenty.
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