Reuters
Four people were killed and more than 50 others injured in a large wave of Russian missile and drone strikes on kyiv and its surrounding areas.
Explosions were heard across the region overnight Sunday. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said “it was a terrible night”, with damage reported in all areas of the capital, including residential buildings and schools.
Three children are among the injured and rescue work is underway.
The strikes follow Russian President Vladimir Putin’s promise to retaliate after accusing Ukraine of carrying out a deadly attack on a student dormitory in the city of Starobilsk on Friday, in which 18 people were killed.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said it carried out an attack near Starobilsk in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine on Friday, but claimed it had hit an elite Russian military unit.
Sunday’s nighttime Russian strikes came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that there were signs that Russia was preparing “a combined strike on Ukrainian territory.”
He cited intelligence from Ukraine, Europe and the United States suggesting Russia could consider using the Oreshnik missile, which reportedly travels at more than 10 times the speed of sound and is currently impossible to intercept.
There has yet been no confirmation that Russia used this missile in its latest bombing.
The attack hit more than 40 locations in kyiv, with falling debris sparking fires in residential buildings, warehouses, a supermarket and a shopping center, Klitschko said.
Reuters
“The capital was subjected to a massive ballistic attack. More shots are possible,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of kyiv’s military administration, wrote on Telegram shortly after midnight.
One person was killed after a nine-story residential building was hit in the central Shevchenko district and a fire broke out on the upper floors.
In the same neighborhood, a strike near a school’s air raid shelter blocked its entrance with debris, trapping several people inside.
Emergency services rushed to several damage sites across the city, putting out fires, clearing debris and treating the injured.
In the kyiv region surrounding the capital, two people were also killed, according to regional head Mykola Kalashnyk.
He called the attack “deliberate terrorism against peaceful people,” adding that “emergency services are working everywhere.”
