Food Disruption in Ukraine Sparks Concerns About Fuel and Food for Coming Winter

Since arriving in Kyiv about a week and a half ago, I have been amazed at how normal life was apart from the airstrikes. I expected some food shortages but found restaurants were open and grocery stores were full. However, after several days of heavy Russian attacks, it seems some food distribution centers have been hit.

This was the first time I saw partially empty shelves in the grocery stores. It wasn’t a shortage of everything, and no one is going hungry. However, it was the first time I saw that some products were missing.

There was a table in the front where they normally have fruit on special offer. This time, it was bare. A sign standing next to the table read, “Not everything is available. But everything is tasty!” It went on to say, “Due to the consequences of the enemy attack, some dishes may temporarily be unavailable.”

Ukrainian friends, both military and civilian, expressed their concern that Russia is targeting not only food centers but also energy hubs and electricity generation stations. Patriot missiles are needed to protect these high-value targets, but the stockpiles are dwindling. If they are not replenished by winter, many people could freeze, particularly the elderly and children.

On August 5, 2026, Russia launched 24 ballistic missiles and four Zircon/Oniks anti-ship missiles at Kyiv and the surrounding region, along with 115 drones. Ukraine intercepted none of the 28 missiles, and the barrage killed 17 people and wounded 44. Ukraine’s Air Force reported that air defenses shot down or disabled 98 of the 115 accompanying drones.

The strikes specifically hit retail and logistics infrastructure. Russia destroyed a sorting center belonging to Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s largest private parcel carrier, and major facilities belonging to Epicentr, the country’s largest home-improvement retailer. Sites belonging to grocery retailers Novus and Fozzy Group were also hit. Silpo said six employees were killed when fires broke out at two of its distribution centers, and Rozetka’s CEO said a warehouse in Brovary was destroyed. Damage was also reported at facilities in Bucha and Fastiv.

Following an August 2 meeting on critical infrastructure protection, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had received only a third as many air-defense interceptors this year compared with the same period in 2025. The Patriot PAC-3 system remains the only system able to intercept the ballistic missiles used in the strikes on Ukrainian energy, fuel, and food-distribution infrastructure.

Food is under threat, but the most pressing concern during winter will be heating. Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed in January 2026 that its forces target Ukrainian fuel-storage depots directly, alongside energy facilities, using aviation, drones, missiles, and artillery. The tactic is not new. In 2022, a missile strike on the Kremenchuk refinery, combined with attacks on oil depots, left 15 oil depots destroyed or damaged nationwide, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attributed the resulting fuel queues and price increases to Russian targeting of fuel facilities.

Since January 2026, Russia has carried out more than 250 attacks on facilities belonging to Naftogaz as part of a campaign to reduce domestic gas production. Russian missile and drone campaigns have targeted power plants, substations, and transmission lines, reducing generation capacity and forcing rolling blackouts; the 2025–2026 winter left millions without power or heat.

Fears of food and energy insecurity are closely tied to the Patriot missile shortage. Patriots matter because they are the only system capable of countering ballistic missiles. Patriot is a layered, long-range air defense system capable of intercepting cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and aircraft. Each battery consists of a power plant, radar set, engagement control station, launcher stations, an antenna mast group, and interceptor missiles, either PAC-2 or PAC-3 variants. Depending on the interceptor stocked, it can defend an area up to 100 miles out.

Patriot does not cover every threat. Stinger fills the shorter-range gap. The FIM-92 is a shoulder-fired, man-portable missile system designed to provide short-range protection against low-flying aircraft, cruise missiles, and drones. It is also mounted on the Avenger system, a Humvee-based platform carrying up to eight Stinger missiles, which protects critical infrastructure and troop positions against unmanned aerial systems and helicopters.

While typing this report, I responded to an air raid alert and headed to the shelter. I heard two very loud explosions, and a military friend sent me a message saying the missiles hit about five kilometers from my position. He said the weapons used were ballistic missiles. For several days, there had been intelligence that a ballistic missile attack was coming, and this again underscores the need for Patriot missiles.

Ballistic missiles present a distinct threat because of their high, fast, arcing trajectory on descent. Patriot is the only defense system capable of intercepting them. NASAMS, IRIS-T, Gepard, Avenger, and Stinger cover drones, cruise missiles, and helicopters, but none are built to catch a descending ballistic missile. Drones can be intercepted by multiple layered systems; ballistic missiles have essentially one line of defense, and Ukraine’s stock of it is running low.

Russia has steadily increased its use of ballistic missiles, as well as its attacks on critical infrastructure. Russia fired 28 ballistic missiles at Ukraine in January 2025; by January 2026, that had risen to a monthly record of 91. Monthly totals through 2026 climbed further: 74 in January, 116 in February, 39 in March, 50 in April, 86 in May, 96 in June, and 126 in July, a wartime record. Russia has fired a total of 650 ballistic missiles at Ukraine so far this year, according to a New York Times analysis of Ukrainian Air Force data.

The Institute for the Study of War reported that Russia reduced the number of strike drones used in its mass attacks in July 2026, using ballistic missiles instead to exploit Ukraine’s Patriot interceptor shortage, launching 376 missiles and 4,606 drones that month compared to 181 missiles and 5,749 drones in June. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reported an 89% interception rate against all air threats in June 2026, but only 40% against ballistic missiles specifically. In the two most recent large attacks, Ukraine downed just 2 of 36 ballistic missiles fired, roughly one in twenty.