It was the first missile strike on the Ukrainian capital since early February, said Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration.
Russia’s defence ministry said Thursday that it had targeted Ukrainian military sites with “long-range high-precision weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.”
“The objectives of the strike have been achieved. All targets were hit,” it said in a daily briefing.
The attack comes after a sharp escalation in Ukrainian strikes on Russian border regions and oil refineries over the last two weeks.
PUTIN VOWS REVENGE
On Thursday, the Russian governor of the Belgorod region, on the border with Ukraine, said five people were wounded in the latest aerial bombardment.
“In the city of Belgorod, more than 30 apartments in six residential buildings were damaged as a result of an air attack by the Ukrainian armed forces,” governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.
He published photos showing damaged facades and smashed windows in multi-storey apartment blocks.
Speaking last week after a wave of Ukrainian drone, rocket and artillery attacks on Russia, Putin said: “These strikes by the enemy do not and will not go unpunished.”
On Wednesday he vowed to restore “security” to the border areas and said that Russia had a “plan” to delivery victory against Kyiv.
Russia’s FSB security service also said Thursday that it had arrested a Russian citizen in Belgorod who was preparing “terrorist acts against the Russian military”, Russian state media reported.
It said the person was working with the “Russian Volunteer Corps”, one of the militia groups that claimed to be behind a string of attempted armed cross-border incursions last week.
And Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have captured the village of Tonenke in east Ukraine, around 10 kilometres from the city of Avdiivka, which fell to Russian forces last month.
US AID “AS SOON AS POSSIBLE”
Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for the West to deliver more air defence systems for Kyiv as Russian missile attacks continue to kill and injure dozens across the country.
At least five were killed in a missile strike on the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Wednesday, and 21 were killed in a strike on the Black Sea port city of Odesa last week.
In Kyiv for a meeting with Zelenskyy on Wednesday, the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said he could not predict when the much-needed aid from Washington would be approved.
“I’m not going to make predictions about exactly when this will get done, but we are working to get it done as soon as possible … but I cannot make a specific prediction today,” he told reporters.
Source: CNA
