Russia attacks Ukraine’s capital Kyiv for the first time in weeks | CBC News


Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Sunday morning, hitting at least two residential buildings, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, while elsewhere Russian troops consolidated their gains in the east.

Associated Press reporters in Kyiv saw rescue services battling the flames and rescuing civilians. Klitschko said two people were hospitalized with injuries.

Ukrainian parliament member Oleksiy Goncharenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app that “according to preliminary data, 14 missiles were launched against the kyiv and Kyiv region.”

Klitschko said one of the missile strikes partially destroyed a nine-story apartment building and started a fire. The resuers were trying to pull people out from under the rubble, he said. The commander of Ukraine’s national police force, Ihor Klymenko, said on national television that five people were injured in the attack.

Ukrainian rescuers work outside a damaged residential building hit by Russian missiles in Kyiv on Sunday. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)

Before the attack early on Sunday, Kyiv had not faced a Russian air attack since June 5.

Explosions were also heard in the central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy on Sunday, former regional governor Oleksandr Skichko said on the Telegram app.

He did not give more details. Cherkassy has been largely unaffected by bombing since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Bombers deployed from Belarus

Meanwhile, Russian forces have been trying to swallow the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Luhansk region of the Donbas, building on their momentum after taking full control Saturday of the charred ruins of Severodonetsk and the chemical plant where hundreds of soldiers and Ukrainian civilians had been in hiding.

On Saturday, Russia also launched dozens of missiles in various areas of the country far from the heart of the eastern battles. Some of the missiles were fired from Russian Tu-22 long-range bombers deployed from Belarus for the first time, Ukraine’s air command said.

The bombardment preceded a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, during which Putin announced that Russia planned to supply Belarus with the Iskander-M missile system.

Ukrainian soldiers ride in an armored personnel carrier on a highway in the eastern Lugansk region on June 23, amid Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. (Anatoly Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said late on Saturday that Russian and Moscow-backed separatist forces now control Severodonetsk and the villages around it. He said the Ukrainian forces’ attempt to turn the Azot plant into a “stubborn center of resistance” had been thwarted.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk province, said on Friday that Ukrainian troops were withdrawing from Severodonetsk after weeks of shelling and house-to-house clashes. He confirmed on Saturday that the city had fallen to Russian and separatist fighters, who he said were now trying to blockade the neighboring city of Lysychansk from the south. The city is located across the river, just west of Severodonetsk.

The Russian Interfax news agency quoted a spokesman for separatist forces, Andrei Marochko, as saying Russian troops and separatist fighters had entered Lysychansk and fighting was taking place in the heart of the city. There was no immediate comment on the claim from the Ukrainian side.

Lysychansk and Severodonetsk have been the focal point of a Russian offensive aimed at capturing all of Donbas and destroying the defending Ukrainian army, the most capable and battle-hardened segment of the country’s armed forces.

The capture of Lysychansk would give Russian forces control of all major settlements in the province, a significant step toward Russia’s goal of capturing all of Donbas. The Russians and separatists control about half of Donetsk, the second province of Donbas.



Reference-www.cbc.ca

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