Residential building in Kiev hit by missile, says mayor

A residential building near Kiev’s second airport was hit by a missile or rocket early Saturday, with footage from the scene showing a large impact about ten floors above, according to the mayor.

The exterior walls of several apartments look totally destroyed. Smoke still hangs in the air. The cause is unclear.

Emergency services are at the scene, and there are no reports of casualties, said Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko.

In a tweet Saturday morning, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba shared a photo of the damaged building. “Kyiv, our splendid and peaceful city, has survived another night under attacks by Russian ground forces, missiles,” he wrote. “I demand the world: totally isolate Russia, expel ambassadors, oil embargo, ruin its economy. Stop the Russian war criminals!”

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry released footage showing emergency crews helping to evacuate residents.

The photos show several apartment units completely destroyed, their exterior walls and windows missing – a hole in the side of the building.

The sidewalk below the building is littered with debris. Some windows on lower floors appear to be broken, with similar damage to adjacent low-rise roofs.

One photo shows two rescuers carrying a woman away from the scene, with other workers running in the background.

After months of military escalation and intemperance on the Ukrainian border, Russia attacked the Eastern European country. At dawn on Thursday (24), Russian forces began to bomb several regions of the country – follow the repercussion live on CNN.

What was seen in the following hours, however, was an attack on almost the entire Ukrainian territory, with explosions in several cities, including the capital Kiev.

According to Ukrainian officials, dozens of deaths have been confirmed in the armies of both countries.

In his speech before the attack, Putin justified the action by saying that Russia could not “tolerate threats from Ukraine”. Putin urged Ukrainian soldiers to “put down your weapons and go home”.

Russia has been tightening its military grip around Ukraine for the past year, amassing tens of thousands of troops, equipment and artillery at the country’s gates. In recent weeks, diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions have been unsuccessful.

The escalation in the years-long conflict between Russia and Ukraine has set off the continent’s biggest security crisis since the Cold War, raising the specter of a dangerous confrontation between Western powers and Moscow.

(From Sarah Marsh and Madeline Chambers of Reuters and Eliza Mackintosh of CNN)

Source: CNN Brasil

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