Russian missiles hit Kyiv in the early hours of Sunday morning, a day after a missile bombardment hit targets across Ukraine and just hours before a G7 meeting in Germany that will discuss new ways to punish Moscow for its invasion .
The missiles hit residential buildings in the central Shevchenko district of Kyiv shortly after 6 a.m. local time, causing a fire and leaving a huge column of smoke over the Ukrainian capital. On Sunday, a mission was underway to rescue people trapped in the rubble.
A security official involved in the rescue said one person was killed and five seriously injured, but others remained trapped. He said a nearby nursery school had also been run over.
New weekend attacks come as more Western artillery is being delivered to Ukraine to help defend the Russian offensive in the east of the country. Missile attacks prompted Ukrainian officials to call on Western allies to supply more air defense weapons.
“The Russians hit Kyiv again. The missiles damaged an apartment building and a nursery,” Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, posted on Twitter.
He urged Western countries to designate Russia as a “terrorist-sponsoring state as soon as possible” and increase its arms supply. “Ukraine needs modern missile defense systems. We are saying that [to] our allies. Weapons save lives, ”Yermak said.
Lifeguards outside a damaged residential building © Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Getty Images
It was not immediately clear how many people were injured or killed in Sunday’s attack in Kyiv. In live TV footage, Ukrainian police were quoted as saying that a child was rescued from a building and that his mother was being pulled from the rubble.
“Some floors are completely destroyed, some floors are partly destroyed,” said an apartment block resident who fled after the building was hit.
Ukroboronprom, a Ukrainian arms manufacturer, also has buildings in the area. “This is the third time they have signed up [the plants] – and they have been lost every time, “the security officer said, referring to previous Russian attacks in the same area.
One of the missiles fired on Sunday in Kyiv flew dangerously close to a nuclear power plant in the south of the country, according to a statement on social media from Energoatom, the state nuclear generator in Ukraine.
The attack on Kyiv took place while most residents were asleep and weeks of relative peace remain in the capital, despite a continued and bloody battle for control of southern and eastern Ukraine.
On Saturday, Russia fired more than 40 missiles at Ukrainian targets, including some launched from Belarus, where President Alexander Lukashenko has backed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Interior Minister of Ukraine, told his Telegram channel that the cruise missiles that hit Kyiv on Sunday had been launched from bombers flying over the Caspian Sea.
Signs that Russia may be intensifying its air attack on the central and western parts of Ukraine come as European countries promise more support for Ukraine’s war effort and Western heavy artillery begins to reach the front.
G7 leaders are meeting in Germany to discuss how to increase pressure on the Kremlin to end a war that has also fueled inflation and sparked fears of food shortages worldwide as Russia tries to derail exports of Ukrainian wheat.
Proposals for stricter Western sanctions on Russia include a ban on the country’s gold imports, another bet to deprive Moscow of export revenue to support its invasion of Ukraine.
NATO countries hold a summit in Madrid on Tuesday. Zelenskyy will address both the G7 and NATO summits.
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