In a Russian attack with ballistic missiles on Kyiv, two people were killed and 21 others injured during the night to Wednesday. This was reported by the news agency Ukrinform, citing Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Among the injured is an eight-year-old child. Sixteen of the injured were taken to hospital, four of them in a serious condition. A missile hit a nine-storey residential building in the Desnianskyi district, setting flats on the first to eighth floors on fire. On the same night, a fire broke out in a warehouse building in the same district; debris also triggered a grass fire at a stadium in the Darnytskyi district.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported launches of ballistic missiles at Kyiv, after which an air alert was triggered in the capital and in several regions. According to Ukrinform, the Russian army had deployed five Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles, nine Banderol/Dan loitering munitions and 108 Shahed attack drones against Ukraine since the evening of 12 October. Ukrainian air defence had neutralised 88 drones.
Klitschko: “The mayor is not responsible for air defence”
The attack came during a phase of growing tensions between Kyiv and its allies. As the Swiss news portal bluewin reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky complained that there had again been no advance warning from the USA. The missiles were only detected by radar as they approached Kyiv. “It is completely unfair that they (the Russians) are destroying energy facilities while Ukraine does not even receive warnings about the launch of ballistic missiles,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. According to bluewin, in addition to a residential building, a combined heat and power plant was also hit.
At the same time, Zelensky sharply attacked the Kyiv city administration. “Every resident of Kyiv can see that the city is truly unprepared,” he said in a video message. The situation was worse than in the winters of previous years of the war – even individual drone attacks were already leading to power and water outages. Klitschko rejected the accusations: “The mayor is not responsible for air defence,” he told journalists. Kyiv was the main target of Russian attacks, and he himself was the victim of a campaign to replace him with a more loyal mayor. According to Klitschko, 300 unpopular mayors had already been replaced nationwide by the central government. He and Zelensky are regarded as political rivals; their long-smouldering conflict is repeatedly played out in public.
Drone attack on an office building in the Solomianskyi district
Already on Tuesday, 13 October, a Russian drone had hit an office building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district. As Klitschko announced on Telegram, the drone struck the sixth floor at 17:22 local time. Emergency services rushed to the site of the attack. The air alert, which lasted 21 minutes, had since been lifted, the news agency Ukrainian News reported. According to Ukrainian News, the Russian army had already attacked a 25-storey residential building in the Darnytskyi district with a drone on 12 October.
Meanwhile, the government is apparently preparing changes to administrative procedures in Kyiv. According to Ukrainian News, citing Zelensky, consultations on urgent security and administrative measures have been under way since 13 October. The president spoke of “substantial proposals” and announced further talks. According to the report, representatives of the security sector, the economy and the municipal administration took part in the consultations, including Vasyl Maliuk, Ivan Fedorov, Ihor Terekhov, Kostiantyn Yefymenko and Maksym Yefimov. “The protection of energy facilities and critical infrastructure in Kyiv, coordination with the government and the military, understanding people’s needs and a rational adjustment of administrative protocols for Kyiv – we are preparing solutions,” Ukrainian News quotes the president as saying.
The attacks on the energy supply could further exacerbate the already tense situation of the population in the cold season. According to bluewin, ammunition for the US Patriot systems, which are regarded as the most effective defence against ballistic missiles, is scarce. One reason for this is that the war of the USA and Israel against Iran has further reduced global stockpiles. Ukraine has been in defence mode for more than four and a half years.
Editor’s note: The assessment that the latest attacks are likely to further fuel the administrative debate in Kyiv is an interpretation by this editorial team and is based exclusively on the cited sources.
