Russian air strikes injure 18, damage facilities in Ukraine: Officials

Russian air strikes injure 18, damage facilities in Ukraine: Officials

Kyiv and other cities hit by missiles

Russia launched a massive air attack on the capital Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on Thursday, injuring at least 18 people and damaging infrastructure facilities across the country, officials said.

Blasts were heard in Kyiv and the surrounding region after an air raid alert, Reuters witnesses said. Authorities reported sending rescue teams to several locations in the capital.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said people were injured in Kyiv and Cherkasy regions and in the city of Kharkiv in the east during the attack that came early in the morning.

“It is a restless morning. Explosions were heard in different regions of Ukraine,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said seven people, including a 9-year girl, were injured in Kyiv. Missile debris fell in the city centre and an infrastructure facility and several non-residential buildings were damaged, causing a fire, he said.

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Cherkasy and Drohobych also targeted

Klymenko said a hotel and several shopping kiosks were damaged in Cherkasy in central Ukraine and seven people were injured.

The emergency services posted a video on Telegram showing rescuers carrying out an injured man on a stretcher as a fire rages.

Maksym Kozytskyi, Lviv’s regional governor, said three Russian missiles hit the city of Drohobych in the west, about 60 kilometres from the Polish border.

Kozytskiy said an infrastructure facility and warehouses were hit.

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He said no casualties were reported in Drohobych, but the city was left without electricity and water supply.

Kherson dormitory shelled overnight

In a separate overnight attack, two people were killed by Russian shelling of a dormitory in the southern city of Kherson, governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

He said the dormitory housed students and workers from a nearby shipyard, which was also damaged by the shelling.

He said the attack was “a barbaric act of aggression” and called for international condemnation of Russia’s actions.

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Russia escalates war with Ukraine

The air strikes are the latest escalation of the war between Russia and Ukraine, which began when Russia invaded eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea.

Since then, more than 20,000 people have been killed and millions displaced by the conflict.

Ukraine has been supported by Western countries, which have imposed sanctions on Russia and provided military aid to Kyiv.

Russia has denied any involvement in the war, despite overwhelming evidence of its direct military intervention.

The peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by Germany and France, have stalled since Russia launched its offensive on February 24.