Zelensky seeks more anti-ballistic defenses after near-continuous Russian air assault

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine will urgently seek more anti-ballistic air defenses, radars and interceptor missiles after what he described as a massive, near-continuous Russian assault lasting almost two days exposed where the country’s defenses remain weakest. The comments came after a Stavka meeting, a wartime session with top military commanders and senior ministers, as Ukrainian officials also released a clearer official breakdown of the attack and what the military managed to shoot down.

In a Telegram post after the meeting, Zelensky said Russia had launched more than 1,560 drones since the beginning of Wednesday. That cumulative figure covers a longer time window than the Ukrainian Air Force’s overnight tally. Separately, the Air Force said radar units tracked 731 aerial targets in the overnight May 13-14 wave: 56 missiles and 675 drones or other UAVs. In its preliminary count as of about 8 a.m. Thursday, the Air Force said Ukrainian forces had neutralized 693 of them — 41 missiles and 652 drones.

Those figures show why Zelensky put the emphasis on ballistic defense. Based on the Air Force’s overnight data, Ukrainian forces neutralized about 96.6% of drones but about 73.2% of missiles. Zelensky said the main challenge was ballistic missiles and defending a very large number of rear infrastructure sites and cities. He said he issued specific instructions to the General Staff, Air Force and Defense Ministry to increase supplies for air defense, including radars, and to prioritize anti-ballistic systems and the missiles needed to fire them. “The overall interception rate exceeded 93 percent,” Zelensky, as quoted by Kyiv Post from his Telegram post, said.

The human toll remained centered on Kyiv, where rescue crews were still searching the rubble of a heavily damaged apartment block in the capital’s Darnytskyi district. “A rescue operation is currently underway in Kyiv at the site of a Russian drone strike on a residential nine-story building – an entrance to the building was completely destroyed. Dozens of people were saved. Unfortunately, one person died. My condolences to family and friends. There may still be people under the rubble,” Zelensky’s Telegram, as reported by Interfax, said earlier. In a later update, Zelensky said seven people were known to have been killed and 39 injured in Kyiv, while the fate of nearly 20 people who may have been in the building remained unknown.

Official summaries said strikes or damage were reported in several regions, including Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv and the Kharkiv region. The Air Force said the overnight attack included Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles, Iskander or S-400 ballistic launches and Kh-101 cruise missiles, alongside a large drone barrage. Ukrainian officials and outside analysts have repeatedly said Russia uses mass drone swarms to saturate air defenses before following with missiles, especially harder-to-intercept ballistic or aeroballistic weapons. The latest assault fit that pattern.

Zelensky also linked the air-defense shortfall directly to diplomacy, saying Ukraine’s work with partners in May and June would be judged in part by whether it secures enough missiles and systems. He said he had also instructed Ukraine’s defense forces and special services to propose possible formats for a response to the Russian attack. After the assault, British Defence Secretary John Healey said the United Kingdom would accelerate deliveries of air-defense and anti-drone systems to Ukraine.