Russia strikes Kyiv with missiles and drones, wounds 5

KYIV: Russian missile and drone strikes rocked Kyiv early on Thursday, setting off fires and wounding at least five people, after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow was preparing a “massive attack”.

Russia has routinely launched waves of missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, during its more than four-year invasion, which has become Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

The attack came after the Ukrainian air force warned that ballistic missiles were headed towards the capital and followed Zelensky cutting short a visit to Dublin Wednesday, citing intelligence reports of an impending Russian strike.

AFP journalists in central and eastern Kyiv heard more than a dozen explosions and saw residents — some with children and pets — rushing into metro stations being used as shelters.

“Kyiv is under attack from ballistic missiles and UAVs,” Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, adding that blasts could be heard across the city.

“The enemy continues to launch missiles at the capital,” he said.

Five healthcare workers were wounded in the Shevchenkivskyi district, one of whom was in a critical condition, the mayor added in a later post.

The attacks set off fires, destroyed a residential building and damaged a medical facility, Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram.

Hours earlier, an AFP reporter witnessed an explosion in central Kyiv during an air-raid alert, followed by a cloud of smoke and flames. Firefighters and ambulances were at the scene.

Around 50 minutes later, a second blast erupted near the initial impact site, sending debris into the air.

‘Use shelters’

Zelensky said earlier on Wednesday that he was rushing home from a visit to Dublin due to intelligence reports that Russia was about to launch a massive attack.

“I urge our people to be especially careful, to protect themselves, their children, and, of course, their families; to use shelters and heed air raid alerts in Ukraine — this is very important,” he told a news conference.

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin “has been preparing this massive strike against Ukraine for some time now”.

Ukraine has also stepped up long-range drone attacks inside Russia in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure and military targets.

Russian officials have reported repeated strikes in border regions, while Moscow has said its air defences had intercepted hundreds of drones from Ukraine in recent days.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused more than two million military casualties, with Moscow’s forces bearing the brunt of the losses, according to a study published Wednesday by US think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

US efforts to broker an end to the conflict have so far failed.