KYIV: At least eight people have been killed and 33 others injured in a wave of overnight Russian missile strikes targeting Kyiv and the surrounding region, Ukrainian authorities said.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that the “massive attack” on Thursday damaged apartment buildings and warehouses, as well as a children’s hospital and a school. Rescue teams have been searching through the rubble of destroyed buildings for survivors and have so far pulled two people alive from the debris, according to BBC.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said the strikes damaged a children’s hospital, shattering windows and setting nearby vehicles on fire. An educational institution was also damaged, while a missile struck an industrial facility in the Solomyanskyi district in southwestern Kyiv.
In the wider Kyiv region, one person was killed and another injured in an attack in Brovary district, regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said. Authorities repeatedly urged residents to take shelter as air-raid alerts were issued throughout the night following warnings from the Ukrainian Air Force about incoming missiles.
The strikes also prompted security concerns in neighbouring countries. Romania’s Defence Ministry said a drone entered its airspace near the border with Ukraine, about 13 kilometres east of Galați, triggering an air-raid alert. The drone later crashed in an uninhabited area and caused a small fire, which was extinguished. No casualties or material damage were reported.
Poland’s military also announced that it had launched “defensive air operations” to safeguard its airspace, as the country shares a southeastern border with Ukraine.
(Inputs from BBC)
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