Loud explosions rocked Ukraine’s capital Kiev on Monday morning (2) as Russia launched a battery of missiles, sparking fires and damaging homes and infrastructure, officials said.
Residents across the city were awakened by a rapid succession of booms and the sound of air defense missiles shooting skyward to intercept targets.
The air force said it destroyed 22 of 35 missiles and 20 of 23 attack drones. And it listed several types of ballistic and cruise missiles used by Russia.
Air raid warnings sounded across Ukraine for nearly two hours before the air force declared the skies clear. Neighboring NATO member Poland scrambled Polish and allied aircraft to keep its airspace safe during the strikes.
The widespread bombardment, a week after Russia launched its biggest air strike on Ukraine since the start of a full-scale war in early 2022, coincided with many children returning to school.
Yevheniia, a 33-year-old mother, tried to be brave as she took her 6-year-old daughter Margo to her first day of school.
The occasion is celebrated in Ukraine, as in Russia, with parents buying large bouquets of flowers for their young children.
“Her hands were shaking, we woke up. Our apartment started to smell like smoke, but we still have to go to school, right? We are Ukrainians,” she said, as her daughter nodded.
A boiler at a Kiev water treatment plant was partially damaged, as was the entrance to a metro station that doubles as a bomb shelter in the Svyatoshynksyi district, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, although the station was still in operation.
The district is home to a number of universities and schools.
The attack wounded three people, city military authorities said, adding that two of them were taken to hospital.
Cars were set on fire across the city, as well as at a non-residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, Mayor Klitschko said.
Emergency services rushed to several locations, including Svyatoshynskyi, Solomyanskyi and Holosiivskyi districts, where debris from destroyed missiles had fallen.
Solomyanskyi District is home to a major railway station and Kiev’s main airport. The historic Svyatoshynsky District is in the far west of the city, while Holosiivskyi is in the southwest.
Kateryna, 34, went to the market in Svyatoshyno to buy flowers for her son who was starting school.
“Some florists have been here since five in the morning, they had to hide,” she said.
An Islamic center was also badly damaged in the attack, Crimean Tatar leader Refat Chubarov said on Telegram.
Reuters journalists in Kiev heard a series of loud explosions that appeared to be the work of air defense units, some in the central area.
Last Monday, Russia fired more than 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine, killing seven people and hitting energy facilities across the country, in what Kiev called the “most massive” attack of the war.
Russia denies targeting civilians in the 30-month-old war.
This content was originally published in Russia attacks Kiev amid return to school on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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