Ukraine Seeks to Bolster Air Defenses After Russian Missile Barrages

“But, unfortunately, not all of them,” Mr. Zelensky said in his nightly address following the latest barrage on Monday. “We are working with our partners as actively as possible to make the protection of our skies even more reliable.” In the deadliest strike, a missile slammed into a multistory apartment block in the central Ukrainian city of Uman on Friday, killing 23 people, including four children.

Air-defense systems supplied by Kyiv’s Western allies helped Ukraine weather a Russian campaign to destroy its energy infrastructure over the winter and hurt morale. The frequency of Russian missile barrages has decreased since then, reflecting what Ukrainian and Western officials say are dwindling stockpiles of munitions. Last month, Ukraine also began receiving Patriot air-defense systems pledged by the Biden administration in December as part of a nearly $2 billion arms package.

But Kyiv has also faced major challenges finding antiaircraft missiles, including the Soviet-designed ammunition for the backbone of its air-defense system, the S-300 and Buk batteries.

The acuteness of the shortage was underscored in purported Pentagon presentations leaked on social media that surfaced last month, assessing that Russia could achieve its long-sought goal of air superiority in Ukrainian skies as early as May. The document said two Nasams and one Iris-T air-defense battery provided by the U.S., Norway, Canada and Germany were also on track to run out of ammunition.

Recent Russian missile barrages have targeted military-industrial facilities in Ukraine. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Monday’s strikes targeted Ukrainian military-industrial objects and “successfully disrupted” the production of military resources.

While the tempo of missile strikes has slowed, areas within range of Russian rocket and artillery fire continue to be battered daily. The southern city of Kherson’s military administration said Russian forces had shelled territory on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River and an island where Ukrainian forces were said to have recently established positions.

Russian forces have targeted Kherson and surrounding areas on the western bank of the river daily since Ukrainian forces drove them out in an offensive last year. Ukraine has since been on the defensive in the east of the country, fighting to hold back Russian advances while training and equipping its forces for an anticipated offensive backed by Western partners.

Ukrainian forces are now fighting to defend their last remaining supply route into the city of Bakhmut, which has become the war’s deadliest battlefield. Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskiy, Ukraine’s commander of ground forces overseeing the Bakhmut campaign, visited the city, where Ukrainian forces have been pushed back into western districts following months of brutal combat.

“Together with the commanders, we made a number of necessary decisions aimed at ensuring effective defense and inflicting maximum losses on the enemy,” Gen. Syrskiy said.

Ukraine has also taken big losses in Bakhmut, raising questions at home and among Kyiv’s Western allies about the decision to keep holding the city. Kyiv says the strategy is degrading Russian combat power while buying time for other Ukrainian forces to be trained and equipped in preparation for an offensive to recapture occupied territories.

The timing and target of that offensive are closely guarded, but military strategists say Ukraine could seek to make inroads into a band of territory occupied by Russia along Ukraine’s southern coast.

Write to Isabel Coles at [email protected]