Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Sunday morning, hitting at least two residential buildings, said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, as elsewhere Russian troops consolidated their gains in the east. .
Journalists from the Associated Press in Kyiv saw rescue services fighting the flames and rescuing civilians. Klitschko said two people were hospitalized with injuries.
The member of the Ukrainian parliament, Oleksiy Goncharenko, wrote in the messaging application Telegram that “according to preliminary data, 14 missiles were launched against the Kyiv and Kiev region.”
Klitschko said one of the missile attacks had partially destroyed a nine-story apartment building and caused a fire. Resurers were trying to get people out from under the rubble, he said. The commander of the Ukrainian national police, Ihor Klymenko, told national television that five people had been injured in the strike.
Ukrainian rescuers work in Kyiv on Sunday outside a damaged residential building hit by Russian missiles. (Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Getty Images)
Prior to the Sunday morning attack, Kyiv had not faced any Russian airstrikes since June 5th.
Explosions were also heard on Sunday in the central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy, former regional governor Oleksandr Skichko told the Telegram app.
He gave no further details. Cherkasy has been virtually on the sidelines of the bombings since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Bombers deployed from Belarus
Meanwhile, Russian forces have tried to swallow the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Luhansk region of the Donbas, pressuring its momentum after taking full control Saturday of the charred ruins of Severodonetsk and the chemical plant where there were hundreds of Ukrainian troops and civilians. been hidden.
On Saturday, Russia also launched dozens of missiles into various areas of the country away from the heart of eastern battles. Some of the missiles were fired from long-range Russian Tu-22 bombers deployed from Belarus for the first time, Ukraine’s air command said.
The bombing preceded a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, during which Putin announced that Russia planned to supply Belarus with the Iskander-M missile system.
Ukrainian soldiers travel in an armored personnel carrier on a road in the eastern Luhansk region on June 23, amid Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. (Anatolii Stepanov / AFP / Getty Images)
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday afternoon that Russian and Moscow-backed separatist forces now control Severodonetsk and the surrounding villages. He said the attempt by Ukrainian forces to turn the Nitrogen plant into a “stubborn center of resistance” had been thwarted.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk province, said on Friday that Ukrainian troops were withdrawing from Severodonetsk after weeks of bombing and house-to-house fighting. He confirmed on Saturday that the city had fallen into the hands of Russian and separatist fighters, who said they were now trying to block the neighboring town of Lysychansk from the south. The city is located on the other side of the river, west of Severodonetsk.
The Russian news agency Interfax quoted a spokesman for the separatist forces, Andrei Marochko, as saying that Russian troops and separatist fighters had entered Lysychansk and that fighting was taking place in the heart of the city. There was no immediate comment on the Ukrainian side’s claim.
Lysychansk and Severodonetsk have been the focal point of a Russian offensive aimed at capturing the entire Donbas and destroying the Ukrainian army defending it, the most capable and hardened segment in the battle of the country’s armed forces.
The capture of Lysychansk would give Russian forces control of all major settlements in the province, an important step toward Russia’s goal of capturing the entire Donbas. The Russians and separatists control about half of Donetsk, the second province of the Donbass.