A Russian missile strike killed at least one person and damaged a historical cathedral, six embassies and other buildings across the Ukrainian capital during the morning rush hour on Friday, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukraine’s air defences shot down all five Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles used by Russian forces to attack the capital, the air force said.
Residents in the city centre heard loud explosions and fires broke out in several buildings, said Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration.
Photos from the site showed the wrecked roof of an office block with blown-out windows in central Kyiv and firefighters extinguishing flames after a car was heavily damaged on the street below.
Kyiv city military administration said 12 people had been wounded, including five who had been taken to hospital.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said that the embassies of Albania, Argentina, Palestine, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Portugal, housed in the same building, were damaged as a result of the strike. There were no casualties among diplomatic staff, it said.
“This is another barbaric attack by Russia on civilian targets that shows no willingness for peace,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X.
The Russian Defence Ministry said it had struck a command centre used by Ukraine’s SBU security service, a site which it said was involved in the designing and construction of missiles and a U.S.-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile system.
“The goals of the strike have been achieved. All targets have been hit,” the ministry said, casting the strike as response to Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Rostov region with Western missiles.
Reuters was unable to verify the reports by either side.
The Russian strike also damaged St. Nicholas Cathedral, “a monument of national significance”, Ukraine’s minister for cultural affairs Mykola Tochytskyi said on X.
Ukraine’s air force said it also downed 40 out of 65 drones launched by Russia across the country overnight, with a further 20 drones failing to reach their targets.
Russian troops also targeted Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson with various types of weapons during early morning, killing one person and wounding nine others, the regional governor said. Energy facilities were damaged causing power cuts for up to 60,000 consumers, he added.
Russia has been carrying out airstrikes on Kyiv and other targets, particularly energy infrastructure, as its forces advance in the industrial Donbas region on eastern Ukraine before expected peace efforts next year.
Amid concern in Kyiv that Donald Trump could cut American support for its war effort when he returns to the White House next month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the U.S. president-elect on Thursday to ally with Europe to stop Russia.
VLADIMIR PUTIN