Russia's Drone-Then-Missile Tactic Exposed Ukraine's Interceptor Shortage, Killing 17 in Kyiv

Russia fired 115 drones and 28 missiles at Kyiv overnight August 5, killing at least 17. Ukraine intercepted 98 drones but could not stop the ballistic missiles — a pattern Moscow has refined: saturate defenses with drones, then strike infrastructure once interceptors are depleted. Zelenskyy blamed the casualties directly on the shortage. A proposed US-Germany-Ukraine Patriot component deal would take months to address the gap.