Written by Vladislav Smilyanets and Gleb Jaranić
KIEV (Reuters) – Russian forces launched a drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital Kiev early on Saturday, killing three people, while two other attacks in the south of the country killed three others, officials said.
In Kiev, explosions rang out in the sky before dawn as air defenses were activated against the attack, which also injured three others, according to the head of the city's military administration, Timur Tkachenko.
He added that a mall, a mall, a metro station and water pipes were damaged in the attack.
“Russian forces first launched drones and then launched a ballistic missile attack,” parliamentary ombudsman Dmytro Lobinets wrote on social media. He added, “These actions only confirm the brutality and barbarism of the enemy.”
Rescue workers were walking through a flooded street as they examined the wreckage. The charred remains of a truck were seen in front of the station, whose facade was marked by twisted metal and blown out windows.
As dawn broke, they could be seen examining missile fragments and loading a body bag into a truck.
Air Force spokesman Yuri Ahnate told Ukrainian media that the two missiles aimed at Kiev were destroyed, but one of them was shot down at low altitude, causing severe damage.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow, which denied deliberately targeting civilians.
Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said that another Russian missile attack killed one person and injured 11 others in the city of Zaporizhia in the southeast of the country.
Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of the neighboring southern Kherson region, said Russian bombing killed two people in a town north of the regional center, also called Kherson.
The Ukrainian military said it destroyed 24 of 39 drones and two of four missiles launched by Russia across different parts of Ukraine during the attack that occurred overnight.
A Russian missile strike on Friday on Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky, killed five people and partially destroyed an educational facility, officials said. A woman injured in the attack died in hospital on Saturday.
“Everyone who helps the Russian state in this war must face pressure as effective as these strikes,” Zelensky wrote on social media in response to Saturday’s attack.
Russia has carried out regular air strikes on towns and cities behind the front line since the start of its nearly three-year-old invasion of Ukraine, targeting vital infrastructure in particular.
