KYIV, Ukraine — Frightened pedestrians hurried to get off the streets of Ukraine’s capital and into underground shelters on Monday morning as Russian forces launched a rare daytime missile attack on Kyiv.
The air-raid alarms went off shortly after 11 am local time. Parents rushed to bring their children to safety, and hospital staff hid in bomb shelters. Ukrainian air defenses launched into action within minutes and powerful explosions reverberated around the city.
You can also find out more about the A-Team here.All 11 missiles Ukrainian officials reported that the missiles aimed directly at Kyiv have been destroyed. Authorities said that falling debris had caused damage to various areas of the city. Information about potential casualties is still being clarified.
While Russian forces have launched overnight aerial attacks on Kyiv more than a dozen times this month — including earlier on Monday — the mid-morning assault marked the first daytime air raid in many weeks.
“Just six hours after the night attack” Serhii popko, the chief of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, announced in a public statement that Russia launched missiles once again at Kyiv. “After long, exclusively nocturnal attacks,” Mr. Popko stated that Russian forces “struck a peaceful city during the day, when most of the residents were at work and on the streets.”
Later, fire and rescue crews were dispatched to extinguish fires caused on a main road in the capital by falling debris. The Kyiv region military administration announced that they were working to remove debris from at least 6 locations around the capital.
Monday marked the 16th time this month that Ukraine’s capital has come under attack. While Russia used cruise missiles, ballistic and attack drones in its assaults, it has failed to do much damage. According to Ukrainian officials, Moscow is modifying its tactics with each failed attack to maximize damage.
Russian forces have changed the timing of their bombardments and which weapons they are using, as well as the trajectory of the drones and missiles. Most recently, they flew them low, along riverbeds, through valleys, to avoid detection.
These adjustments are part of the Russian military’s efforts to improve their capabilities. “confuse and mislead our air defense system,” Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force Command, said in an appearance on national television over the weekend. “It uses the topography of the area to disappear from radars.”
“But as we can see, the Ukrainian air defense is getting stronger and stronger every day,” He said.
On Sunday, Ukrainian air defense teams repelled Russia’s largest drone attack on the city since the start of the war. Another overnight attack occurred less than 18-hours later.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported It was reported that Russian forces fired 40 cruise-missiles and 35 attack drones of Iranian origin before dawn on Sunday, with many aimed at the capital. The Russians claimed that 29 of the drones and 37 of the cruise missiles were destroyed.
One missile hit the village of Kivsharivka in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, according to the local military administration, What is said? The attack left at least three victims wounded.
According to Ukrainian officials the Russian assault managed to damage an airfield in Khmelnytskyi, western Ukraine, with at least one military facility being hit.
“Five aerial vehicles went out of service,” Khmelnytskyi Regional Military Administration issued a press release. The statement said that rescue crews are racing to extinguish fires in a fuel storage and depot at the base. “Restoration works also started at the runway,” The administration stated.
After those strikes, air alerts sounded once again in various regions of Ukraine. Air defense missiles were launched in the clear spring sky by air defense systems across the capital, still reeling after the successive nights of bombardment.
The residents of Kyiv — a city of 3.6 million people — paused, braced The following are some examples of how to get started: waited. When the blasts subsided, residents of the capital did as they have done after every attack — posted messages on social media thanking air defense teams, texted their friends and proceeded to go about their business.
Nataliia Novosolova and Tiffany May Contributed Reporting