A total of 10 people, including a teenage girl, were injured Monday after Ukraine’s air defense system shot down two Russian missiles over the capital, sending metal debris falling to the ground.
Authorities in the eastern Kharkiv region also announced a 65-year-old man died in his yard during a Russian artillery attack.
AFP journalists in Kyiv saw emergency workers in helmets clearing twisted concrete and metal from one of the buildings torn apart during the attack, which was the third airstrike on the capital in the past five days.
Moscow has stepped up its air strikes against Kyiv, targeting key infrastructure following fatal Ukrainian attacks in Russia’s border regions.
AFP reporters heard several explosions and air raid sirens almost simultaneously in Kyiv at around 10:30 am (0830 GMT) as officials asked residents to take cover.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack once again showed that Ukraine needed a better air defense system from its allies.
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“This means safety for our cities and saving human lives. All of us in the world who respect and protect life need to stop this terror,” he wrote on social media.
Emergency services said 10 people were injured, while Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the teenager was among those taken to hospital, and two pregnant women had suffered acute stress reactions.
Oksana, a Kyiv resident, was at work when she first heard air raid sirens and then explosions.
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“Before I could do anything, the first explosion occurred,” he told AFP. “There was a cloud of dust, smashed cars, windows, everything.”
The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Sergiy Popko, said Russia had struck with two ballistic missiles launched from the annexed Crimean peninsula.
He said both were shot down but falling debris hit several central districts. Officials said an arts academy building and a gym were damaged.
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“This morning again Russia attacked Ukraine with hypersonic missiles,” the US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, wrote on social media.
“Ukraine needs our help now. There is no time to lose,” he added, referring to a $60 billion military aid package pending in the US Congress.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba posted footage claiming to show schoolchildren running for shelter as the attack occurred.
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“This is a reminder that Ukraine urgently needs more air defenses, especially Patriot systems and missiles capable of repelling any Russian attack,” he wrote.
Monday’s attack came after around eleven people were injured in a Russian drone strike in southern Ukraine overnight, and a fire broke out at a major Russian power plant after a Ukrainian drone strike.
Kyiv says Russian drones have attacked the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Odesa.
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Some 300,000 people in Odesa were without power overnight Monday after energy infrastructure in the Black Sea region was damaged.
NATO Security Threats Threatened
Russia’s attack on Ukraine extended to Poland at the weekend.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday about a Russian missile that briefly violated Polish airspace at the weekend.
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Poland summoned the Russian ambassador in Warsaw over the incident, but Sergey Andreyev failed to appear and told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency that he was first waiting for evidence of wrongdoing.
Sikorski told Stoltenberg the incident was additional evidence that Russia, “which continues to carry out unprovoked and brutal aggression against Ukraine, also threatens the security of NATO member states,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
In Russia, a fire broke out at a power plant in the southern region of Rostov, the local governor said, after a wave of Ukrainian drone strikes in the area.
Two power generating units at the Novocherkassk power plant, one of the largest in southwestern Russia, were decommissioned, Governor Vasily Golubev said on social media.
The Rostov region borders Ukraine and the regional capital is the headquarters of the Russian military command for the attack on Kyiv. (AFP/Z-3)
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