Barrage of attacks in Kyiv: Russia launched 75 missiles, says Ukraine – Eight dead

by

Kyiv has come under fire for the first time in more than three months as Vladimir Putin convenes his security council, two days after the Crimean bridge explosion.

The Ukrainian armed forces announced that Russia launched 75 missiles against Ukrainian cities this morning.

“In the morning, the aggressor launched 75 missiles, 41 of which were shot down by our air defense,” Ukrainian Armed Forces Chief Valery Zaluzny said in a Telegram app post, adding that Russia also used “unmanned combat aircraft.”

Eight dead

At least 8 dead and 24 injured are the toll so far from the missile attacks on Kyivaccording to the Ukrainian presidency and the interior ministry.

Kyiv came under fire for the first time in more than three months as Vladimir Putin prepared for a meeting of his security council, two days after the Crimean bridge explosion.

In Kyiv, AFP reporters saw several ambulances in the city center heading to the scene of the loud explosions around 08:15 local time (and Greek time). Large plumes of smoke were visible, then two more explosions were heard.

The last time Kyiv was hit was on June 26.

Buildings were damaged by the morning shelling of Kyiv, according to the mayor of the Ukrainian capital Vitali Klitschko, who clarified that some of these buildings are part of the city’s critical infrastructure.

Klitschko also clarified in his Telegram post that several explosions rocked the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv this morning, while the Interior Ministry announced that at least 8 people were killed and 24 injured in the shelling of that area.

However, according to the Kyiv police, at least 5 people were killed and 12 injured by the Russian missile strikes in the Ukrainian capital.

“Most of the hits were in the center of the capital,” the police said on their Facebook page. “At the moment it is known that 12 were injured. Five people were killed.”

A bridge was also blown up in the Ukrainian capital, Anadolu reported, citing local media earlier that in addition to Kiev, explosions were also reported in the cities of Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Dnipro, Lviv and Ternopil.

Local media reported that train services on the Kiev metro’s red line had stopped operating and that all underground train stations were now operating as shelters, according to Anadolu.

Missile near Zelensky’s office

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry also announced that a Russian missile hit a street where security services and the office of the Ukrainian president are located Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Kremlin has announced that Vladimir Putin has convened a meeting of the Russian Security Council today, attended by his government’s top ministers, political officials and representatives of the Russian security services and armed forces.

Yesterday, Sunday, Putin accused Kyiv of planning the blast that partially destroyed the Crimean bridge on Saturday, which links Russia to the Moscow-annexed Ukrainian peninsula, and called it an act of terrorism.

Train and car traffic resumed on the bridge a few hours after the explosion, which killed three people and which Russian authorities attributed to a trapped truck.

The explosion on the bridge, inaugurated by Putin in 2018 and a symbol of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, is another setback for Moscow as its forces face difficulties in Ukraine.

“The perpetrators, those who executed it and those who gave the order are the Ukrainian secret services,” Putin noted yesterday, Sunday, after a meeting he had with the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, according to a video broadcast by the Kremlin. “There is no doubt that this is a terrorist act aimed at destroying critical Russian political infrastructure,” he added.

Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was limited to referring in a video to the cloudy weather on Saturday in Crimea – in a possible allusion to the smoke from the bridge fire – “while it was also hot”.

Zelensky pledged in the same video for a Crimea “without occupying forces.”

The Ukrainian president also called the Russian military terrorists after the attacks on residential buildings in Zaporizhia, a city in southern Ukraine, in which at least 13 people died and 89 were injured, three days after earlier bombings that had killed 17 people there. .

Explosions rocked Kyiv early this morning, resulting in deaths and injuries, a spokesman for the State Emergency Services said, as reported by the state-run Suspilne network.

A little while ago, skynews.com, citing the Ukrainian police, reported that there are at least five dead and 12 injured from the rocket attacks in Kyiv.

However, the estimate is that there will be many more dead and injured.

Earlier, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Vitali Klitschko, had reported on Telegram that there were explosions in the center of Kiev this morning.

“Several explosions in the Shevchenskiy district, in the center of the capital,” Klitschko wrote.

The explosions were heard at 8:15 (local and Greek time), while warning sirens had sounded several minutes earlier.

Earlier AFP journalists reported that three powerful explosions were heard in the center of Kiev. Reports from residents speak of four explosions.

An eyewitness told the Reuters news agency that black smoke was seen rising from a building in the city center after an explosion.

Others on social media posted images they claimed were from the city, with some claiming a “missile attack” had been “destroyed” by Ukrainian forces.

Mayor of Kyiv: Stay in shelters

Vitali Klitschko called on the people of Kiev to stay in shelters after the morning airstrike.

He added that the threat is constant.

Klitschko said: “The capital is under attack by Russian terrorists. The rockets hit the city center (in the Shevchenskivskyi suburb) and the Solomian area.

“Unless there is an emergency, it is better not to go to town today. I also ask suburbanites not to visit the city center at all today.

The central streets of Kyiv have been blocked by security forces and rescuers.”

Kyiv has been largely quiet since the start of the war, with the front line moving east and south after Moscow failed to topple the government.

The explosions in Kyiv come a day after Russia blamed Ukraine for the explosion on the Crimean bridge, saying it was a “terrorist act”.

The adviser to the Ukrainian president, Mykhailo Podoliak he replied to Putin that even for Russia it is cynical to accuse Ukraine of terrorism after the explosion on the Crimean bridge.

Explosions were also reported during during the night in Zaporizhiawhere 13 people were killed in bombings on Sunday.

RES-EMP

You May Also Like

Recommended for you