One dead and several injured due to Russian rocket attack on Kyiv

SadaNews - Powerful explosions shook the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, early this Sunday morning, following a warning from Ukrainian authorities about a massive and imminent attack by Russian ballistic missiles targeting the city, prompting dozens of residents to seek refuge in metro stations in the city center.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram that the nighttime missile and drone attacks resulted in at least one death and 13 injuries, with 7 of the injured taken to the hospital.

Klitschko added that several people were trapped inside a shelter at a school after debris blocked its entrance following the strike, noting that a school was hit in the Shevchenkivskyi district, while shelling near another school led to the entrance of a shelter where residents sought refuge being obstructed.

For his part, the head of the city’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, stated that more people are believed to be stuck inside a shelter in a shopping center in Shevchenko.

According to the city’s military administration, 20 people were injured in the attack that occurred overnight.

Tkachenko had warned, via his account on Telegram, about the possibility of further strikes, urging residents to stay in shelters, and he confirmed that the attack resulted in damage to at least 4 sites in the city, including residential buildings.

This attack came in line with prior warnings issued by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday, who indicated - based on Ukrainian, American, and European intelligence - that there were signs of Russia preparing for a combined and massive strike employing various types of weapons against Ukrainian territories including Kyiv, predicting that Moscow would use its modern medium-range hypersonic missile "Orizhnick."

These developments coincided with a warning issued by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, which confirmed it had received information regarding a potential massive air attack within the next 24 hours.

Zelensky had called on the international community and partners in the United States and Europe to exert preventive pressure on Moscow to deter it from expanding and prolonging the war, warning that the use of such weapons would set a global precedent, and stressing that Kyiv would respond fully and equivalently to Russian strikes.

The "Orizhnick" is the latest Russian medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and its speed exceeds more than 10 times the speed of sound, making it impossible to intercept according to statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This recent Russian rocket bombardment was a response to a threat made by the Russian president, who ordered the military to prepare options for a military response to a Ukrainian drone strike that targeted a vocational college and student housing in the Luhansk region under Russian control in eastern Ukraine, resulting in at least 18 deaths and over 40 injuries, while the Ukrainian military denied targeting any civilian sites in that raid.

Source: Agencies