Russia attacked Kyiv with ballistic missiles late on Thursday evening, killing at least one person. That is reported by the city’s military administration, as the television channel n-tv reports. According to BBC News Ukraine, the air-raid sirens in the capital wailed at 22.40 local time, and a few minutes later the missiles struck. Shortly beforehand, according to n-tv, slightly more than half a dozen explosions could be heard across the city.Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reported a strike in the eastern Darnytskyi district, where a warehouse building caught fire. In the Dnipro district, missile debris fell near a residential complex, a shop was partly destroyed, and the burning remains of another missile came down in the courtyard of an apartment building, as the Kyiv Independent reports, citing Klitschko. Shockwaves damaged cars and shattered windows in the surrounding area. According to BBC correspondents, multi-storey apartment buildings in Berezniaky were also damaged.How many missiles actually flew at the city has not yet been confirmed. According to observations by military monitors cited by BBC News Ukraine, there were at least five to eight, possibly including Oniks and Zircon missiles. The monitors’ statements are not independently confirmed. The city’s left-bank area came under fire, it was further said.Drones and cruise missiles all night
According to BBC News Ukraine, the missile attack was only the opening act: Russia continued its drone attacks on the capital throughout the night. Poltava and Kremenchuk were also attacked during the night with drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Reliable information on casualties and damage in these cities was initially not available.The attack on Kyiv does not come as a surprise. Already on the evening before the strike, according to n-tv, President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned of new Russian missile attacks, citing intelligence information. In his video address he again called for more weapons for air defence, in particular for the US Patriot system. “We need the means to eliminate all this Russian evil,” Zelensky said.The warning has a concrete background: Kyiv suffers from an acute shortage of interceptor missiles for Patriot systems and, in the assessment of BBC News Ukraine, is practically unable to intercept ballistic missiles. Russia exploits this. According to Zelensky’s statements, which the Kyiv Independent quotes, Russia has fired more than 100 ballistic missiles at Kyiv and the region since 14 October. Already in the night of 27 October the capital was the target of a ballistic attack; at that time one person died and the southern bridge was significantly damaged. In the weeks before, according to BBC, Russia had attacked the city with ballistic missiles at least several times a week.A day with many fronts – and a winter that is only beginning
The attack on Kyiv comes in a week of escalating violence. On Thursday, according to the authorities, Russia hit a platform in the station of the city of Dnipro, killing at least 14 people and injuring at least 14 others. Shortly afterwards there were attacks on central areas of Chernihiv and Kremenchuk, in which, according to BBC, two people died in each case, including children. In Kremenchuk, according to Vitalii Diakivnych, head of the military administration of the Poltava region, three people died, 19 sought medical help and eleven were taken to hospital.In the Dnipro region, the energy supply was also hit. Emergency services were working to restore supply, the Kyiv Independent reports. The city has just under one million inhabitants.The Kyiv Independent classifies the attacks as part of Russia’s fifth winter offensive since the start of the full-scale war, with which Moscow aims to destroy power plants, substations and gas infrastructure. For the people in Ukraine this means: more nights in shelters, more power and heating outages – and for the capital an air defence that can barely repel ballistic missiles.An appeal came from Brussels on Thursday. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called on the platform X for more support for Ukraine and greater accountability for Russia – through a special tribunal and a commission for compensation claims. She said she would raise this at the EU-Canada summit and at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta. “Russia must be held accountable,” Kallas wrote.Editor’s note: How severe the damage in Kyiv is overall and whether the death toll will rise further remains open. The information on the types of missiles fired comes from military monitors and is not officially confirmed.
