Russia unleashed a massive combined attack on Kyiv early Friday, sparking fires and scattering debris across many districts of the capital, mayor Vitali Klitschko said. At least 11 people were injured as emergency crews responded to multiple strikes, he said in a statement.
Five people were hospitalised, including one man in critical condition and a pregnant woman, after a series of powerful explosions sounded in the city and air defences were activated.
The attack on the capital was ongoing, officials said, urging residents to remain in shelters until the air raid alert is lifted. City authorities warned that power and water outages were possible.
Pictures posted on social media showed different sites in flames and residents gathering in rubble-strewn streets outside apartment buildings.
“The Russians are hitting residential buildings. There are a great many damaged multi-storey apartment buildings, in practically every district,” Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
He said both drones and missiles had been deployed and emergency crews were dispatched to several neighbourhoods.
Klitschko said Kyiv’s heating system had also sustained damage, with service interrupted in one district. He warned of possible disruptions to power and water supplies.
In the Darnytskyi district, debris landed in the yard of a residential building and on the grounds of an educational facility. A car caught fire after being hit by falling fragments.
In the Dniprovskyi district, debris damaged three apartment buildings, a private household and caused a fire in an open area. In the Podilskyi district, five residential buildings and a nonresidential structure were damaged.
Several fires were caused by falling debris elsewhere in the city.
In the Kyiv region, Russian strikes damaged critical infrastructure and private homes, injuring at least one civilian, regional head Mykola Kalashnyk said. A 55-year-old man in Bila Tserkva suffered thermal burns and was hospitalised, he said. Fires broke out in private houses in the capital’s suburbs.
The strike came as European Union officials warned this week that Ukraine must continue to crack down on corruption following a major graft scandal that has put top nuclear energy officials under scrutiny. But they also offered assurances that aid will continue to flow as Kyiv strains to hold back Russia’s invasion.
With Reuters and Associated Press
