The attack of the large ballistic missile hit hard Kyiv early Sunday morning local time, authorities said, at least five people were injured after Moscow threatened to retaliate against strikes in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine.
A large explosion was heard in the capital of Ukraine, which shook a building near the government district, while many took shelter in the underground station in the center of the city, according to Agence France-Presse reporters.
“The capital came under heavy missile attack,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City military unit, wrote on Telegram.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said five people were injured and one of them was hospitalized.
Ania TSOUKANOVA/AFP via Getty Images
“Currently there are reports of at least 4 areas affected by the attack: Shevchenkivsky, Dniprovsky and Podilsky regions. Fire and damage to residential buildings were previously reported,” said Tkachenko.
“Strike drone attacks continue; ballistic missile threat remains. Stay in shelters!”
Ukrainian authorities and the US Embassy earlier warned of a possible major attack on the capital after Russia said it would “punish” those responsible for the deadly strikes in eastern Ukraine.
Klitschko said medical teams were called to the Podilsky district in northwest Kyiv, where debris fell on a non-residential area.
The attack also sparked a fire near a building near Shevchenkivsky, he added.
Kyiv has warned that it expects a major Russian missile attack after its forces attacked a missile in the Russian-occupied east, which Moscow said hit a college dormitory, killing at least 18 people.
Launched overnight Thursday into Friday, the drone salvo – one of the deadliest strikes in Ukraine in recent months – also wounded 42 in Starobilsk, Lugansk region, trapping people under rubble.
Ukraine has denied targeting civilians, saying it shot down a Russian jet in the Starobilsk region.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that those involved would face “inevitable and severe punishment.”
On Saturday, both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the US Ambassador to Kyiv issued warnings about the risk of a major Russian strike in the coming hours.
“We see signs of preparations for a joint strike on the territory of Ukraine, including Kyiv, involving various types of weapons,” including the Oreshnik, Russia's nuclear hypersonic missile, Zelenskyy said in a social media post.
The U.S. embassy said it had “received information about an air strike that could take place at any time in the next 24 hours.”
Ukraine regularly targets areas of the country controlled by Russia with drones, saying the strikes are retaliation with the invasion of Russia.
The Ministry of Emergencies in Russia said on Saturday that it removed two more bodies from the rubble of this room, bringing the death toll to 18.
A video shared by the department showed dozens of rescuers sorting through the remainder of the five-story building.
Most of those killed and missing were young women born between 2003 and 2008, according to a death toll published by the Moscow-backed governor of Lugansk, Leonid Pasechnik.
“The region and the whole country share the fate of these people and the pain of their families,” he said in Telegram.
The United Nations said on Friday it “strongly condemns attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur,” adding that it could not confirm the details due to the blockade of the area.
Starobilsk is about 40 kilometers from the front in eastern Ukraine. It was captured by Russian forces in the first months of the 2022 invasion.
Kyiv recently increase its flight capabilities and increased strikes on uncontested Russian territory, including settlements and oil shipping infrastructure.
Moscow has launched dozens of missiles and drones into Ukraine almost every day since the full-scale offensive began in 2022, hitting infrastructure and causing casualties. It denies targeting civilians.
US-led efforts to negotiate an end to the more than four-year war have slowed in recent months as Washington's attention has been diverted to its conflicts in the Middle East.
