An adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had successfully intercepted a long-range missile fired by Russia. Rocket debris ended up hitting a train station in Kiev.
So far, there is still no confirmation of what the original target of the Russian attack would be. The railway station that was hit was being used to receive and shelter Ukrainian women and children fleeing the conflict.
According to preliminary information from Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, the explosion left no casualties, but the details are still being clarified.
“The enemy was trying to invade our city, but the Ukrainian defenders are pushing back the occupiers and defending our capital,” the mayor said in an online post.
According to the government, the anti-aircraft batteries of Ukraine’s missile intercept forces carried out the defensive strike at a time when the Russian projectile was still on its trajectory.
The attack may have cut off heating supplies to parts of the Ukrainian capital amid freezing winter temperatures, Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said in a publication.
Ukraine’s state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsya said the station building suffered minor damage, such as broken windows, and trains continued to operate.
Earlier, teams from CNN on land they heard air raid sirens in the Ukrainian regions of Odessa and Uman. The team in Kiev also reported that they heard a large explosion, likely the one that hit the train station.
Also today, battles have intensified in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine. The spokesman for the Russian Armed Forces even said that control had been taken by its troops, but the Ukrainian Defense Ministry denied the information.
On the seventh day of fighting, hundreds of lives have already been lost. Russia confirms it has lost 498 troops, although Ukraine says the number exceeds 7,000.
On the Ukrainian side, more than 2,000 civilians have been killed so far, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, although other figures circulate simultaneously.
*With information from CNN International and Reuters
Source: CNN Brasil
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