Officials: 10 wounded in missile attack on Kyiv
KYIV – Debris from a Russian missile attack wrecked part of a three-story building in central Kyiv on Monday morning, injuring at least 10 people across the city, officials said.
Schoolchildren had to run for cover during the assault, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
The side of the building, which held an art academy’s gym and exhibition hall, was reduced to rubble in an area packed with high-rise apartment blocks.
The air force said it shot down two ballistic missiles fired from the occupied Crimean peninsula, more than 310 miles away.
CCTV footage obtained by Reuters showed the moment the blast wave blew out a window and upended shelves in a coffee shop that nearly fell on top of a barista working there.
The woman, Maria Yestafieva, told Reuters she had narrowly escaped serious injury.
Kyiv’s air alert system, which usually gives ample advance warning of danger, only sounded about a minute before the first of several explosions were heard by Reuters reporters.
A woman working in the building was wounded, acting culture minister Rostyslav Karandieiev said. “Nobody died according to preliminary information,” he added. At least nine others were injured in the district, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukraine’s allies to supply more air defenses.
Russia, which has stepped up its missile and drone strikes over the past week, staged its biggest attack on Ukraine’s energy system in more than two years of war on Friday, according to Kyiv.
Moscow made no immediate comment on Monday’s attack but has said it does not target civilians or civilian facilities.
Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, described Russia
Rescuers work at the site of a building damaged by a Russian missile strike on Monday in Kyiv, Ukraine. and its president as “terrorists,” comparing them in a statement to Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for a deadly shooting in Moscow on Friday.
U.S. ambassador to Kyiv Bridget Brink said Russia had used hypersonic missiles to attack the Ukrainian capital.
“Over the last five days, Russia has launched hundreds of missiles and drones against a sovereign country,” Brink said.
Envoy ignores summons
The Russian ambassador to Poland ignored a summons to appear at the country’s foreign ministry on Monday after Warsaw said a missile launched at targets in western Ukraine violated its airspace.
Poland’s army said its military radar systems recorded the missile entering the country’s airspace for 39 seconds on Sunday, encroaching 2 km into Polish territory before returning to Ukraine.
“The ambassador of the Russian Federation ... did not attend the foreign ministry today to explain the incident,” foreign ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski told reporters.
The Russian embassy in Warsaw confirmed Sergey Andreev was summoned to the ministry on Monday but did not attend.