Russian missiles strike Kyiv as G7 leaders meet in Germany

Russian missiles fell in Kyiv early Sunday morning, a day after a barrage of missiles hit targets in Ukraine and just hours before a G7 meeting in Germany that will discuss new ways to punish Moscow for its invasion.

The missiles hit residential buildings in the Shevchenkivsky district of central Kyiv just after 6 am local time, starting a fire and sending a huge plume of smoke over the Ukrainian capital. A mission to rescue people trapped in the rubble was underway on Sunday.

A security official involved in the rescue said one person was killed and five seriously injured, but others were trapped. He said a nearby nursery school had also been attacked.

The new attacks over the weekend come as more Western artillery is sent to Ukraine to help fend off a Russian offensive in the country’s east. The missile strikes prompted calls by Ukrainian officials for Western allies to supply more air defense weaponry.

“The Russians attacked Kyiv again. The missiles damaged an apartment building and a kindergarten,” Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, posted on Twitter.

He urged Western countries to designate Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism as soon as possible” and increase its supply of weapons. “Ukraine urgently needs modern missile defense systems. we are counting it [to] our allies Guns save lives,” Yermak said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were injured or killed in Sunday’s attack in Kyiv. In live television footage, Ukrainian police were quoted as saying a boy was rescued from a building and his mother was being pulled from the rubble.

“Some flats are completely destroyed, some flats are partially destroyed,” said a resident of the apartment block who escaped after the building was attacked.

Ukroboronprom, a Ukrainian arms manufacturer, also has buildings in the area. “This is the third time they have targeted [the plants] – and it failed every time,” the security official said, referring to previous Russian attacks in the same area.

One of the missiles fired at Kyiv on Sunday flew dangerously close to a nuclear plant in the south of the country, according to a statement on social media from Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear generator.

The attack on Kyiv came while most residents were asleep and follows weeks of relative peace in the capital, despite an ongoing bloody battle for control of southern and eastern Ukraine.

On Saturday, Russia fired more than 40 missiles at Ukrainian targets, including some launched from Belarus, where President Alexander Lukashenko supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Minister, said on his Telegram channel that the cruise missiles that hit Kyiv on Sunday had been launched from bombers flying over the Caspian Sea.

Signs that Russia may be stepping up its air attack on central and western parts of Ukraine come as European countries pledge more support for Ukraine’s war effort and Western heavy artillery begins to arrive on the front lines.

G7 leaders met in Germany to discuss how to increase pressure on the Kremlin to end a war that has also stoked inflation and sparked fears of global food shortages as Russia seeks to prevent Ukraine’s wheat exports. .

Proposals for tougher Western sanctions against Russia include a ban on gold imports from the country, another attempt to deprive Moscow of export earnings to support its invasion of Ukraine.

NATO countries will hold a summit in Madrid on Tuesday. Zelenskyy will address the G7 and NATO summits.