Ukraine restricts data on Russian missile strikes as attacks surge

KYIV: Ukraine’s air force said Wednesday it would stop publishing detailed figures on Russian ballistic missile strikes as Ukrainian forces struggle to intercept Russia’s heightened attacks.
The military leadership had decided to introduce “certain changes (restrictions)” in its morning reports on Russian mass attacks, air force communications chief Yuriy Ignat said on Facebook.
The restrictions concern “the number of targets launched, shot down, suppressed or those that failed to reach their targets,” he added.
Real-time warnings would continue unchanged, he added, and the air force would keep providing generalized figures on Russian missile launches.
In July, Russia fired more than 450 missiles of various types at Ukraine — nearly 200 of them on ballistic trajectories, according to the communications chief.
Because of their speed and steep trajectory, ballistic missiles are far harder to intercept than cruise missiles or drones. Only advanced systems, notably US-made Patriots, can bring them down.
Kyiv has reported an acute shortage of Patriot interceptors since the US-Israeli war against Iran diverted supplies.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said this year’s deliveries of air defense missiles had fallen threefold compared with the same period of 2025.
In recent weeks Russia has hit Kyiv with mass barrages roughly once a week, killing civilians and ripping open apartment blocks.
In one attack, Ukraine failed to intercept any of the 28 ballistic missiles launched.