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A series of explosions rocked Kyiv on Saturday morning and minutes later air raid sirens began to wail as an apparent missile attack on the Ukrainian capital was underway.
Critical infrastructure in Kyiv was targeted, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said on Telegram.
An unknown infrastructure object was hit in the city and emergency services are operating at the site of the attack, Kyiv city military administration said.
An explosion was heard in the city’s Dniprovskyi district, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Klitschko also said that a missile fragment fell in a non-residential area of Holosiivskyi district, and a fire broke out in a building there. No casualties have been reported so far.
The 1st attack on Kiev began on January 1st
It is unclear whether some facilities in Kyiv were targeted or only those reported to have been hit. The Ukrainian capital has not been attacked by missiles since New Year’s Eve, January 1.
In the outer Kyiv region, a residential building in the village of Kopyliv was hit, and windows of nearby houses were blown out, Tymoshenko said.
A total of 18 private houses were destroyed in the region, according to regional Governor Oleksii Kuleba. “There was a broken roof and windows,” but there were no casualties, Kuleba said in a Telegram post. He added that there was a fire at a “critical infrastructure facility” in the area.
Earlier on Saturday, two Russian missiles hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, the governor of the Kharkiv region reported.
According to Syniehubov said that Russian forces fired two S-300 missiles at the industrial district of Kharkiv. The attack targeted “energy and industrial objects from Kharkiv and [outlying] area,” Syniehubov said. No casualties were reported, but an emergency power outage in the city and other settlements in the area was possible, the official said.
The status of the city of salt is disputed
The attack comes amid conflicting reports about the fate of the salt mining town of Soledar, in eastern Ukraine. Russia claims that its forces have captured the city, a development that would mark a rare victory for the Kremlin after a series of humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.
Ukrainian authorities and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insist the fight for Soledar continues.
Moscow has framed the battle for the city and the nearby city of Bakhmut as key to recapturing the eastern Donbas region, which includes the partially-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and as a way to weaken Ukraine’s best forces and prevent them from attacking. launch counterattacks elsewhere.
But that cuts both ways, as Ukraine says its strong defenses in its eastern bastion have helped tie up Russian forces. Western officials and analysts say the importance of the two cities is more symbolic than strategic.
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