One person has been killed and 21 others injured after Russia launched a large wave of missile and drones strikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
Explosions were heard across the city, with mayor Vitali Klitschko writing on Telegram that damage has been reported in all districts, including residential buildings and school.
A 15-year-old boy was among those injured and 13 people have been taken to hospital, three of them in “a serious condition,” Klitschko said.
The strikes come following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s vow to retaliate after accusing Ukraine of carrying out a deadly attack on a student dormitory in the town of Starobilsk on Friday, where 18 people were killed.
In a statement, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said it did carry out an attack near Starobilsk in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine overnight on Friday, but maintains that it struck a Russian military unit.
Russia’s overnight strike on Sunday hit more than 40 locations across Kyiv, with falling debris sparking fires at residential buildings, warehouses, a supermarket and shopping centre, according to Klitschko.
“The capital has been subjected to a massive ballistic attack. Further launches are possible,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv’s military administration wrote on Telegram shortly after midnight.
One person was killed after a nine-story residential building in the central district of Shevchenko was hit and a fire broke out on the top floors.
The same district, a strike near an air raid shelter at a school blocked its entrance with debris, trapping several people inside.
Emergency services rushed to multiple scenes of damage across the city, putting out blazes, clearing debris and treating the injured.
“The cleanup of the aftermath of the shelling is ongoing,” Tkachenko said, adding that the deployment of aid headquarters will be announced soon.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that there were signs that Russia was preparing for “a combined strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kyiv.
He cited intelligence from Ukraine, Europe and the US that signalled Russia could be preparing a strike with the Oreshnik missile, which reportedly travels more than 10 times the speed of light and is currently impossible to intercept.
SOURCE: BBC NEWS
