How Russia’s ballistic missiles, jet-powered drones have kept Ukraine under pressure

Smoke rises in the aftermath of a Russian jet-powered drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, September 28, 2026.

Russia launched ballistic missiles and several jet-powered drones at Kyiv, Ukraine’s air force reported on Tuesday, as Moscow tries to force Ukraine to crumble under round-the-clock bombardment of its capital and other cities.The assaults have involved new jet-powered drones that fly too quickly and too high for Ukraine’s ground-based air defences to bring down. Kyiv is racing to keep up by developing faster interceptor drones.“Russia’s terror against Ukraine is intensifying by the day,” Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.“This is Russia’s deliberate escalation instead of accepting Ukraine’s offers to cease fire, negotiate and end the war,” he added.Russian ballistic missiles have also penetrated Ukrainian defences, because the country is critically short of US-made Patriot interceptor missiles.Ukraine has been dependent on American supplies of Patriot air defence systems, but its stockpiles are running low due to the war in Iran, leaving the country vulnerable to Russian attacks.According to AP, Ukraine has received only limited quantities of Patriot missiles this year, despite President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s appeals.Russia’s defence ministry said its forces struck data processing centres in Kyiv which, it claims, serve the Ukrainian military, an army that is making growing use of artificial intelligence on the battlefield.The ministry also listed other targets: sites in the capital and the Kyiv region where drones and cruise missiles were kept, along with an electrical substation, a drone manufacturing facility and port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region.However, Ukraine has not simply endured the Russian barrage. Its long-range drones have hit Russian missile and drone factories and launch sites, as well as oil refineries, which has led to fuel shortages.

Europe seeks self-sufficiency

In late August, the UK government agreed to allow defence company MBDA to declassify information on British-made components used in the Scalp missile, the French version of the UK’s Storm Shadow cruise missile.The move enabled Ukraine and France to work towards establishing assembly lines in Ukraine and allow Kyiv to produce the long-range weapon domestically.The Scalp missiles are expected to serve as alternatives to the American Patriots, as Europe tries to overcome its dependence on the US for its defence.British PM Andy Burnham said the allies were doing “everything we can” to support Ukraine, including drawing from their own air defence stocks and helping other countries do the same.“This is the moment to keep up the pressure on Russia, the moment to squeeze their ability to fund this illegal war,” he said, while chairing his first meeting of the “coalition of the willing” group, in late August.