Ukraine has become grimly familiar with the drum of Russia’s massive air assaults before dawn, but this month marked a turning point in Kyiv’s ability to defend itself from Moscow. Over the past week, Russia continued to launch a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles on its neighbour, and while Kyiv shot down many of the drones, its depleted air defences could not intercept many of the missiles. “Only one ballistic missile was intercepted , simply because there are no interceptors for the Patriot systems,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media on August 1.