Ukraine says Russian missiles hit Kyiv, injuring five people

Kyiv (Reuters) – Russian missiles hit an apartment building and a kindergarten in central Kyiv early on Sunday, wounding five people, officials said, in the first such attack on the Ukrainian capital in weeks.

Up to four explosions occurred in central Kyiv. Emergency services said that a fire that broke out in a nine-storey apartment building was partially damaged in the attack in the central Shevchenkivsky district.

“They (rescuers) have taken out a seven-year-old girl. She is alive. Now they are trying to save her mother,” Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

“There are people under the rubble,” Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app. He added that many people have already been taken to hospital.

Ukrainian police chief Ihor Klimenko told national television that five people were injured.

Andrei Yermak, head of the president’s administration, said: “The Russians bombed Kyiv again. The missiles destroyed an apartment building and a kindergarten.”

There was no immediate comment from Russia, which denies targeting civilians and says it is targeting military infrastructure.

Air raid sirens regularly disrupt life in Kyiv, but there have been no major hits on the city since June 5 when a suburban rail car repair facility was bombed in late April when a Radio Liberty producer was killed in a raid. The building she lived in. read more

The historic Shevchenkivskiy district is home to an array of universities, restaurants, and art galleries.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, but gave up an early advance toward Kyiv in the face of fierce resistance backed by Western weapons.

Since then, Moscow and its proxies have focused on the south and Donbass, an eastern region made up of Luhansk and its neighbor Donetsk, and have deployed crushing artillery in some of the fiercest ground battles in Europe since World War II.

Writing by Lydia Kelly and Tom Palmforth; Editing by Michael Perry and David Clarke

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