Yet without them, Ukraine’s skies are wide open.

“Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Last week, following another deadly attack in which only one out of 27 missiles was shot down, he warned that a shortage of interceptors “encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives”.

On Wednesday again Zelensky made a direct link between the delays in supply and the “horrific casualties and destruction” witnessed regularly across Ukraine.

“Quite literally every single day, the lives of people here in Ukraine depend on the decisiveness of our partners in Europe and America,” he said later, adding he had spoken to Nato chief Mark Rutte about getting interceptor missiles.

Ukraine has an undisclosed number of Patriot systems, but it is the Patriot interceptor missiles which are in short supply.

It takes at least two to bring down each incoming ballistic missile and the system has a range of around 160km (99m), so effectively placing units can be difficult.

Russia, meanwhile, uses on average between 20 and 30 ballistic missiles each time it carries out large-scale strikes on Ukraine.