Photo: Kyiv City Military Administration
At least three people were killed and 20 were injured in Russian aerial attacks on the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Kherson on Friday morning, local authorities reported.
According to Kyiv City Military Administration Head Serhiy Popko, Russia launched a “combined missile strike … likely involving ballistic missiles” on the Ukrainian capital at around 7am local time, with eyewitnesses reporting multiple explosions.
One person was killed and ten were injured as a result of the attack, Popko said, with six of those wounded taken to hospital for treatment.
A total of 630 residential buildings, 16 medical institutions, 17 schools and 13 kindergartens had been left without heating in near-freezing temperatures following the attack, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed that it had targeted a Security Service of Ukraine command centre, a missile design bureau and a Patriot air defence unit in the “high-precision” strikes, which it said were a response to a Ukrainian attack on a major chemical plant in Russia’s Rostov region on Wednesday.
Earlier on Friday morning, a Russian artillery strike on the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson killed two people and injured ten more, Kherson’s City Military Administration said.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said that Russian forces had launched an artillery attack to provide cover for “sabotage and reconnaissance groups” advancing towards the city, which he said were “immediately detected and eliminated” by Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine’s Air Force (UAF) said in its daily briefing on Friday morning that it had downed all five Iskander ballistic missiles launched at Kyiv, though falling debris had caused damage across the capital.
On Thursday evening and into the early hours of Friday, Russia separately launched a further two missiles and 65 drones, 40 of which were intercepted and 20 of which were lost, the UAF said.
