Explosions and air raid sirens were heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Saturday morning, as an apparent missile attack took place. Critical infrastructure in the city was targeted, according to the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko. An unidentified object was hit in the city and emergency services were on the scene. The Dniprovskyi district of the city was also affected, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko. He added that fragments of a missile fell on a non-residential area in the Holosiivskyi district and a fire broke out in a building there. No casualties have been reported yet. Additionally, a residential building in the village of Kopyliv was hit, causing damage to 18 private houses in the area and blowing out the windows of nearby homes.
It is not yet clear if multiple facilities in Kyiv were targeted or just the one that was reported hit. The Ukrainian capital hasn’t been attacked with missiles since New Year’s night, Jan. 1. In the outlying Kyiv region, a residential building in the village of Kopyliv was hit and windows of the houses nearby were blown out, Tymoshenko said. A total of 18 private houses were damaged in the region, according to regional Gov. Oleksii Kuleba. “There are damaged roofs and windows,” but no casualties, Kuleba said in a Telegram post. He added that a fire has been contained at a “critical infrastructure facility” in the region.
This attack comes just hours after two Russian missiles hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, the governor of the Kharkiv region reported. Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces fired two S-300 missiles at the industrial district of Kharkiv. The strikes targeted “energy and industrial objects of Kharkiv and the (outlying) region,” Syniehubov said. No casualties have been reported, but emergency power cuts in the city and other settlements of the region were possible, the official said.
The situation in Ukraine continues to be tense, with Russia claiming to have captured a fiercely contested salt mining town in what would mark a rare victory for the Kremlin after a series of setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the fight for Soledar continued.
