One killed in Kiev as Russian missile attack targeted Ukraine’s capital | News about the Russia-Ukraine war
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One person was killed as the city’s mayor said air defense forces were deployed across the city following Friday morning’s attack.
At least one person was killed and seven injured in a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian capital.
The attack on Friday morning also damaged buildings across Kiev and sparked fires in some, according to the head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko.
Russia fired eight missiles at Kiev, Popko said, adding that it used hypersonic Kinzhal missiles and Iskander/KN-23 ballistic missiles in the attack.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defenses were deployed after a missile attack that Russia said was a “response” to Ukrainian attacks with Western missiles this week on a chemical plant in southern Russia.
“In response to the actions of the Kiev regime, supported by its Western leaders, a combined attack using long-range precision weapons was launched today,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Media reports in Ukraine, citing local witnesses, said a series of loud explosions were heard in Kiev and smoke appeared over part of the city.
“Ballistic missile from the north!” warned the Ukrainian Air Force in a Telegram message.
Local media outlet Kyiv Independent reported that multiple explosions occurred around 7 a.m. (0500 GMT). It quoted Klitschko as saying that “several cars were on fire in the Holosiivskyi district due to falling debris from a rocket.”
Fires also broke out in the Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts of Kiev, as well as at a construction site in the Dnipro district.
The city’s mayor said at least seven people were injured, four of whom were taken to hospital.
Before the airstrike, the Ukrainian Air Force warned that a Russian MiG-31 fighter jet capable of firing hypersonic missiles had taken off from a Russian air base, the Kyiv Independent reported.
On Thursday, at the end of the year Media conferenceRussian President Vladimir Putin suggested a “high-tech duel” with Kiev and suggested a review of his claims that Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile is impenetrable to air defenses.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the provocation and described Putin’s entourage as “thugs.”
Al Jazeera defense editor Alex Gatopoulos, reporting from the Ukrainian city of Odessa, said Russia’s attack was a direct result of the dispute between the two presidents.
“Putin said we can get through and we will get through, and they showed today that they are able to do that,” Gatopoulos said.
There were two airstrikes in Kyiv during the night due to drone attacks. City authorities said air defense intercepted all drones and debris fell in the Desnianskyi district.
In southern Ukraine, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Ukrainian soldiers repelled Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups overnight as they tried to advance toward the city of Kherson, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Prokudin said Russian forces attacked residential areas and critical infrastructure. One person was killed and at least nine others were injured, local authorities were quoted as saying by the news agency.
Russian troops have carried out attacks in the southern Ukrainian region to gain a foothold on islands in the Dnieper Delta.
