Zelenskyy asks Trump to send missiles after Russian strikes across Ukraine

1:40 Hundreds of Russian strikes across Ukraine kill at least 14 people – video Zelenskyy asks Trump to send missiles after Russian strikes across Ukraine At least 18 killed, dozens injured and others trapped under collapsed buildings after attacks on five Ukrainian cities Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked Donald Trump to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine after a devastating Russian attack killed at least 18 people and injured dozens more. Russia launched 73 missiles and 656 drones at Ukraine overnight, according to the air force, including eight hypersonic Tsirkon missiles. The main targets were Kyiv, the central cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, and the eastern cities of Poltava and Kharkiv. Loud explosions rocked the capital, as residents sheltered in basements, corridors and metro stations. Black smoke billowed above the city. Twenty-two people died and 66 were injured, the authorities said, including three children. View image in fullscreen People look through the windows of their apartments shattered by an explosion in Kharkiv. Photograph: Pavlo Pakhomenko/NurPhoto/Shutterstock “A large-scale attack and a completely transparent statement from Russia ,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic and other missile strikes, these strikes will continue. “Europe needs its own anti-ballistic missiles so that this war can finally end. And we definitely need the help of the United States in supplying missiles such as Patriots. We count on the support of our partners and effective responses to today’s strike.” Ukraine’s president has repeatedly said Kyiv is running out of Patriot interceptors, supplied by the US, which are the only air defence system capable of blocking fast-moving enemy ballistic missiles. Ukraine’s air defences intercepted about half of the missiles fired on Tuesday, but more than 30 hit civilian targets. Patriot missile defence system graphic Zelenskyy took the unprecedented step last week of writing to the White House and Congress requesting assistance. He described Patriots as a “vital tool” in saving human lives. Ballistic missiles were Moscow’s “last major advantage on the battlefield”, he stressed. So far, though, the Trump administration has ignored Zelenskyy’s pleas, with hundreds of scarce and expensive Patriots used up in February during the US-Israeli war against Iran. View image in fullscreen A firefighter puts out a fire at a car dealership in Kyiv. Photograph: Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP/Getty Images Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said on Tuesday that Russia’s latest strikes showed Vladimir Putin was running out of options. In recent weeks, Ukraine has waged an increasingly successful aerial campaign with long-range drones, hitting oil refineries and ports in Russia as well as a crucial land corridor connecting occupied southern Ukraine with Crimea. “Putin is a war criminal and loser who has no cards except terror,” he said. “Moscow is losing on the battlefield. No number of missi