Russian missiles hit Kyiv right as UN chief meets with Zelensky

Explosions rocked Kyiv on Thursday during the official visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to the Ukrainian capital, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.

“The day before he [Guterres] was sitting at a long table in the Kremlin, and today explosions are above his head. Postcard from Moscow? Recall why [Russia] still takes a seat on the UN Security Council?” Podolyak wrote.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his Telegram channel that two missiles had hit buildings in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi District. “Emergency services are working on site. Information about injured persons is being verified,” he said.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk stated that after the Zelensky-Guterres talks, “there is hope that civilians can be evacuated from Azovstal,” a steel plant that now serves as the last line of Ukraine’s defence in the besieged port city of Mariupol. According to her, the UN chief has begun to plan a humanitarian operation together with the Ukrainian leader.

Antonio Guterres arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, following the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Putin said during the meeting with Guterres that fighting in Mariupol had stopped and that he ordered the Russian troops not to storm the Azovstal plant. The Russian leader added that almost 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered.

The office of the UN Secretary General later reported that Putin had agreed to involve the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal.