Russian attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding area; Zelensky purchases Patriot missiles

During the night of 8–9 September, Russian forces attacked the city of Kyiv and the Kyiv Oblast, causing fires and damaging a food processing plant in Bila Tserkva, as well as a non-residential building, a garage and several lorries in the Ukrainian capital. This was reported by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, as cited by Ukrainska Pravda.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the talks held by US presidential special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow and Kyiv as “substantial”, adding that new ideas for resolving the conflict in Ukraine had been discussed.

“I believe they were – in short, they were – substantive discussions. I do not wish to describe them as good or bad, productive or unproductive; I will simply say that they were substantive. New ideas were put forward,” Rubio told journalists during his visit to Colombia.

Kyiv is signing contracts to purchase around 1,000 Patriot missiles using an EU loan, with deliveries due to begin only in the coming years. This was stated by the Ukrainian Defence Minister Yevgeny Khmara during a meeting of the Ramstein Contact Group. “With the assistance of our partners and thanks to the EU loan,” he said, “we are signing contracts for around 1,000 Patriot missiles.” According to the news agency Ukrinform, Khmara clarified that deliveries of the missiles will largely take place in the coming years. Kyiv is also asking its partners to supply missiles from their own stocks. “We urge you to transfer missiles from your arsenals in exchange for future, upgraded missiles, which will be supplied under our contracts,” said Khmara. According to the Ukrainian Defence Minister, Kyiv needs to receive 300 Patriot missiles, 500 air-to-air missiles, man-portable air defence systems and $2 billion in funding for drones from its partners. Khmara added that Ukraine is facing a $27 billion deficit in its defence budget.