Kyiv residents crowd shelters as Russian missiles intensify

Kyiv residents are crowding underground shelters and changing long-standing routines as Russian ballistic missile and drone attacks put new pressure on the Ukrainian capital.

AFP reported that more than 50 people have been killed in Kyiv so far in July, with two of the deadliest strikes on the capital of the war coming less than a week apart.

Residents told AFP that recent attacks had become more frightening because ballistic missiles can reach the city within minutes. Some people now go directly to metro stations after work when a large attack is expected, instead of waiting for an air alert.

The Kyiv metro said more than 50,000 people camped inside the network on the night of a recent attack, the highest number since the first months of Russia's full-scale invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine does not have enough US-supplied Patriot missile interceptors to protect the city adequately. In a July 5-6 attack, Kyiv's air defences failed to shoot down any ballistic missile, AFP reported.

Several residents said they were still sheltering at home because metro stations were too far away or too crowded. Yulia Parkhomenko, a 34-year-old mother of two, said she takes blankets and pillows into the bathroom with her children when air alerts start.