Russian missile and drone strikes rocked Kyiv early Thursday, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens, after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow was preparing a "massive attack".
Russia has routinely launched waves of missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, during its more than four-year invasion, which has become Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.
Russia's defence ministry confirmed on Thursday it had launched a "massive strike" on Kyiv "in response to the Kyiv regime's terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure".
The attack came after Ukraine's air force warned that ballistic missiles were headed towards the capital and followed Zelensky cutting short a visit to Dublin Wednesday, citing intelligence reports of an impending Russian strike.
Reporting from Kyiv, FRANCE 24’s Emmanuelle Chaze said residents took to “various shelters, be it basements, be it underground parking lots, and of course, underground stations, subway stations” when the first explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital early Thursday.
“There were several waves of missiles that were launched by Russia against Ukraine that you could hear even in the shelters, even underground. There's even a ceiling of a subway station that partially collapsed following an impact over ground,” said Chaze. "Several districts have been impacted and we are talking about residential buildings," she added.
At least 13 deaths were recorded across the Ukrainain capital, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Thursday after Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga called on allies to "not delay decisions on air defence for Ukraine".
Head of the city's military administration Tymur Tkachenko decried the deliberate targeting of civilians and residential areas.
Five districts of the wider Kyiv region were struck in the attack, according to the regional governor, Mykola Kalashnyk.
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"During the night, the enemy once again launched a massive attack on the Kyiv region using strike drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles," Kalashnyk said on Telegram.
He said emergency crews were battling fires at warehouses and a house in the Bucha district, while the attacks damaged homes, a student dormitory and vehicles elsewhere in the region.
Hours earlier, an AFP reporter witnessed an explosion in central Kyiv during an air-raid alert, followed by a cloud of smoke and flames. Firefighters and ambulances were at the scene.
A second blast erupted around 50 minutes later near the initial impact site, sending debris into the air.
Images released by Ukrainian emergency services after daybreak showed extensive damage to a residential block, with a chunk of a building missing.
Some residents described the difficulties of spending the night in shelters.
"It's hard. My child is used to sleeping in complete silence and darkness," 32-year-old doctor Kateryna Kucheryava told AFP.
"I picked her up and carried her down. She woke up and now she's not sleeping anymore. We're trying to get her back to sleep, but she keeps getting distracted. It's bright here, dogs are barking, other children are around."
'Use shelters'
Zelensky said earlier on Wednesday that he was rushing home from a visit to Dublin due to intelligence reports that Russia was about to launch a massive attack.
"I urge our people to be especially careful, to protect themselves, their children, and, of course, their families; to use shelters and heed air raid alerts in Ukraine – this is very important," he told a news conference.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin "has been preparing this massive strike against Ukraine for some time now".
Ukraine has also stepped up long-range drone attacks inside Russia in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure and military targets.
Russian officials have reported repeated strikes in border regions, while Moscow has said its air defences had intercepted hundreds of drones from Ukraine in recent days.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused more than two million military casualties, with Moscow's forces bearing the brunt of the losses, according to a study published Wednesday by US think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
US efforts to broker an end to the conflict have so far failed.
"Russia's head is completely refusing to end the war," Zelensky said on Wednesday in a post on X.
"And although through all possible official and unofficial channels – including through people close to him – we have conveyed that the war can and must be ended, and that we in Ukraine are ready for meetings and meaningful negotiations, he sees only further aggression against Ukraine and against other neighbors and Europe as a whole," he added.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
