At least two people were killed and six injured in the overdosed Russian missile attack on Kyiv this night, Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday. Affected areas of the Ukrainian capital included residential neighbourhoods and warehouses, causing considerable damage and setting off emergency response operations.
The upper floors of a nine-storey residential building collapsed due to the attack and the fire spread at the scene, Kyiv City’s upper party leader Vitaly Klitschko said. He also said there were persons trapped inside another house.
Earlier, there had been warning that people may be forced to wait in a shelter if the missile strikes persist. Authorities rushed to impacted areas and were trying to save people trapped and products damaged as detailed the extent of the damage.
Later, authorities in the Ukrainian capital confirmed six people were hurt in the attack. There were also two women reported dead.
Ukraine’s Air Force has notified people of a possible threat in the city from Russian Kalibr cruise missiles. The missiles were spotted in the vicinity of the village of Kagarlyk in the Kyiv region before entering Kyiv, officials said.
The latest attack follows the intensification of long-range strikes against towns and cities in Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces. In recent months, overnight attacks have become more common recently in Kyiv, amid the ongoing war.
The number of retaliatory attacks on targets within the Russian territory has also been raised in Ukraine. Kyiv has sought to use the attacks as part of its broader effort to put pressure on Moscow and push it towards negotiations.
As both sides intensify the wars of words that have intensified several times in recent weeks, the latest escalation of the two sides’ tensions follows nearly four and a half years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine despite the signing of fresh diplomatic pacts aimed at resolving the conflict.