Russian forces launched several waves of ballistic missiles at Kyiv overnight, injuring at least three people in the capital, including a child, and damaging residential buildings and a kindergarten.
Ukraine’s Air Force said at least six ballistic missiles were heading for the capital shortly before 11 p.m. local time on Friday, and explosions followed across the city. A fresh wave of missiles targeted Kyiv shortly after 1 a.m. on Saturday, with further blasts reported at around 3 a.m.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said debris had struck a five-storey apartment building in the western Solomianskyi district and warned that Russian forces were hitting infrastructure with ballistic missiles. The facade of another residential building was also damaged, and a fire broke out at a non-residential building in the same district.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said a two-storey building on the grounds of a kindergarten in Solomianskyi was destroyed, and that three people in the city were injured, among them a child. The city’s military administration had earlier reported two injured and said they were receiving medical care.
Outside the capital, a Russian jet-powered drone struck a home in the Brovary district of the Kyiv region, injuring one person, according to the regional governor.
The attack came hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned in his nightly video address that Russia was preparing new strikes against energy facilities, bridges over the Dnipro River and other civilian infrastructure. Officials continued to warn residents of the potential for further strikes hours after the first explosions.
The barrage falls three days before US-led talks involving Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are due to open in Abu Dhabi, seeking a resolution to a war that has lasted more than four and a half years. The last such talks took place in February.
Note: casualty and damage figures are developing and differ between early reports; Reuters initially reported two people injured in Kyiv, while the State Emergency Service later put the figure at three, including a child. No deaths had been reported in the capital at the time of publication.
Sources: Reuters, “Russian forces launch missile attack on Ukrainian capital Kyiv, mayor says” (https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/international/4003046-russian-forces-launch-missile-attack-on-ukrainian-capital-kyiv-mayor-says); Kyiv Independent, “Russian ballistic missiles slam Kyiv, injuring 3, including child, after Zelensky warns of mass attack” (https://www.europesays.com/russia/85972/).
