Kyiv was hit by four Russian missile strikes early Sunday morning for the first time in three weeks, during which life slowly returned to the Ukrainian capital in relative calm.
Pillars of smoke rose above the central Shevchenkovsky district, home to a group of universities, restaurants and art galleries at 6.22am. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two apartment buildings had been hit in what he called an “intimidation of Ukrainians” ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid on Tuesday.
At around 11 a.m., there were at least several unconfirmed reports of two more explosions in Kyiv.
Two people, a woman from Russia, were taken to hospital and a 7-year-old girl was rescued from the rubble, Klicho said. “She is alive,” he told the Telegram, adding that rescue workers were trying to “save her mother.” He said more residents could be caught under the rubble.
“We heard four explosions, they were very loud,” said Marina, 33, a resident of an apartment building near the missile strike. “The whole building was shaking. Fortunately, our apartment is good. Initially we are from Chernigov, we experienced all this and now again … I don’t know if I want to move out, I have to calm down and then decide. ”
The area was hit almost two months ago on April 28 in a threatening act of disobedience while the UN Secretary-General was visiting the city and hours after Joe Biden announced a doubling of US military and economic aid to Ukraine.
Vira Khirich, a Ukrainian Radio Liberty journalist who also worked for the Voice of America, was killed in her apartment during the attack.
Ukrainian MP Alexei Goncharenko wrote in the Telegram that “according to preliminary data, 14 missiles were fired against the Kiev region and Kyiv.”
The capital has not been subjected to Russian bombing since June 5, when Russian forces struck the city with cruise missiles fired from the Caspian Sea, hitting a railway repair facility.
In eastern Ukraine, meanwhile, Russian forces tried to cut off Lisichansk, turning its sister city of Severodonetsk into ruins.
Lisichansk is expected to become the next major focus of the fighting as Moscow launches massive artillery bombardment and air strikes in areas far from the heart of the Eastern battles.
Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that Russian troops had entered Lisichansk, the last city held by Kyiv in Luhansk province on Saturday after Ukrainian forces were ordered to withdraw from Severodonetsk.
If Lisichansk falls, the entire Luhansk region, which together with Donetsk makes up the region of eastern Donbass, could fall under Russian control, marking another strategic breakthrough for Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion began.
Police and firefighters at a damaged apartment building in Kyiv’s Shevchenko district. Photo: Roman Pilipei / EPA
“The People’s Militia of the Luhansk People’s Republic and the Russian army have entered the city of Lisichansk,” Andrei Marochko, a spokesman for the pro-Russian separatists, told the Telegram. “Street fights are currently taking place,” he added.
The allegation could not be verified independently and there was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian side.
Sergei Haidai, the governor of Luhansk province, said on Facebook that Russian and separatist fighters were trying to block Lisichansk from the south.
Haidai said the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk and the villages of Sinetsky and Pavlograd and others were shelled, but did not mention casualties.
In a separate event on Saturday, 20 missiles “fired from the territory of Belarus and from the air” were aimed at the village of Desna in the northern Chernihiv region, Ukraine’s northern military command said.
It added that infrastructures were affected, but no casualties were reported.
Although not officially involved in the conflict, Belarus has provided logistical support to Moscow since the beginning of the invasion.
“Today’s strike is directly linked to the Kremlin’s efforts to involve Belarus as a conquering country in the war in Ukraine,” Ukrainian intelligence said.
The attack came ahead of a planned meeting between Putin and his Belarusian counterpart and close ally, Alexander Lukashenko, in St. Petersburg on Saturday.
During the meeting, Putin said he would deliver missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the coming months.
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“In the coming months, we will transfer Iskander-M tactical missile systems to Belarus, which can use ballistic or cruise missiles in their conventional and nuclear versions,” Putin said on a Russian television broadcast.
The development came on the eve of a meeting of G7 leaders in the Bavarian Alps on Sunday, hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is expected to be dominated by Ukraine and its far-reaching consequences, from energy shortages to a food crisis.
Additional report by Artem Mazhulin
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