Kyiv was jolted awake by a fresh volley of explosions, AFP journalists reported, as Russia pressed its barrage on the Ukrainian capital while NATO leaders gathered for a summit in Turkey.
A first powerful blast echoed across the city even before air-raid sirens began to wail, AFP journalists in Kyiv said. Four more detonations followed in quick succession, deepening the sense of an attack unfolding in real time.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the strikes sparked multiple fires. Warehouses burned in one district after what he described as a missile hit, while in another area a “non-residential building” was engulfed in flames.
“The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic missiles. Stay in shelters!” Klitschko wrote on social media.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city was being stuck by ballistic missiles
Elsewhere, the pressure extended beyond the capital. In the southern port city of Odesa, a missile strike earlier in the evening injured 10 people, regional governor Oleh Kiper said, with eight of the wounded receiving treatment in hospital.
The latest onslaught follows Russian strikes across Ukraine on Monday that killed 30 people, including multiple missile hits on Kyiv.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, in Ankara for the NATO summit, appealed to Ukraine’s supporters to intensify assistance for the country’s air defences, as it grapples with shortages of critical interceptors needed to bring down incoming Russian missiles.
While Ukraine has been able to counter the swarms of Russian drones launched at the country, it is struggling to meet what it sees as the Kremlin’s shifting approach — raining ballistic missiles down on Kyiv as air-defence stocks run low.
