At least one person was killed in a Russian airstrike on the Ukrainian capital Kiev, the city’s military administration said on Thursday.
The explosion was reported early Thursday in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia could launch a “massive attack.”
Both Reuters and the AFP news agency quoted people on the ground as saying they heard explosions.
“Sadly, one death has been confirmed,” the military administration of Kiev city wrote on Telegram early Thursday.
The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, urged people to take shelter, saying Russia had attacked Kiev with ballistic missiles. He said that some non-residential sites in Kiev caught fire.
“The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic weapons. There remains a threat of further attack. Stay in shelters!” Klitschko said.
Many people died in Kryvyi Rih
Russia also attacked other cities of Ukraine overnight. At least six people, including two girls, were killed in a Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, according to the head of the local military administration.
“In a village on the outskirts of Kryvyi Rih, a direct hit by an Iskander-M ballistic missile launched from Voronezh hit a private house where a large family lived, killing girls between five and 12 years old and four adults,” said Oleksandr Vilkul.
He said eight more people were injured and the death toll could rise.
Russian missiles also damaged two apartment buildings in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, close to the Polish border, and injured six people, according to local officials.
Meanwhile, the Polish Armed Forces announced on Thursday that Poland had deployed its fighter jets on Thursday to protect its airspace amid Russian air attacks on Ukraine.
“Fight aircraft and an early warning aircraft have commenced operations, while ground-based air defense systems and radar reconnaissance systems have reached a state of readiness,” the post said, adding that the actions are preventive in nature.
What did Zelensky say before the Kyiv explosions?
The attacks came as Zelensky warned that “there is a high probability that the attack will be carried out tonight.”
“I received a report from Air Force Commander Anatoly Krivonozko. The Russians prepared a major attack several days ago,” Zelensky said on the X.
The Ukrainian President stressed that the security of Ukrainians depends on the willingness of Kiev’s allies to provide anti-missile protection. His statement came after a visit to the US where he said President Donald Trump had agreed to license Patriot missiles to Ukraine.
Edited by: Rana Taha
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