Residential buildings impacted when Russian missiles struck Kyiv
Russia attacked the capital of Ukraine in the early hours of Sunday morning and hit at least two residential buildings in the Shevchenkivskyi district, said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Emergency services said a fire broke out in a nine-story residential building, which had been partially damaged in the attack, as a result of the Russian bombing.
Klitschko said residents are being rescued and evacuated from two buildings.
“There are people under the rubble,” Klitschko told Telegram’s messaging app. He added that several people had already been hospitalized.
“They (the lifeguards) have taken out a seven-year-old girl. She is alive. Now they are trying to rescue her mother.”
The sirens of the airstrikes regularly disrupt life in Kyiv, but there have been no major strikes in the city since June 5, when a railway car repair facility was hit on the outskirts, and a bombing at the end of April when a Radio Liberty producer died in a strike. which struck the building where he lived.
The historic district, one of the headquarters of Kyiv, hosts a group of universities, restaurants and art galleries.
The blasts occurred around 6:30 a.m. local time, half an hour after the sirens of the airstrikes sounded in the capital.
Our correspondent, Lorenzo Tondo, tweeted it.
Updated at 08.08 BST
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said G7 countries must respond on Sunday to new missile attacks on Ukraine by imposing more sanctions on Russia and providing more heavy weapons to Ukraine.
This 7-year-old Ukrainian girl slept peacefully in Kyiv until a Russian cruise missile blew up her house. Many more in Ukraine are on strike. The G7 summit must respond with more sanctions on Russia and more heavy weapons for Ukraine. Russia’s sick imperialism must be defeated. pic.twitter.com/0kn2hl7A4x
– Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) June 26, 2022
G7 members have confirmed a ban on Russian gold imports at the start of their summit in the Bavarian Alps, Reuters reports.
The measure by the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan and Canada is part of efforts to toughen sanctions on Moscow.
Boris Johnson said in a statement:
The measures we announced today will directly affect the Russian oligarchs and attack the heart of Putin’s war machine.
“We must starve the Putin regime of its funding. The United Kingdom and our allies are doing just that.
A senior US administration official said the G7 would make an official announcement on the ban on gold imports on Tuesday.
“This is a key export, a key source of revenue for Russia in terms of its ability to transact with the global financial system,” the US official said.
Russian gold exports were worth £ 12.6 billion ($ 15.45 billion) last year and wealthy Russians have been buying bullion to reduce the financial impact of Western sanctions, the British government said.
In addition to the ban on gold imports, G7 leaders were also holding “really constructive” talks on a possible price cap on Russian oil imports, a German government source said.
Explosions were heard on Sunday in the central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy, regional governor Oleksandr Skichko told the Telegram app, according to Reuters.
He gave no further details. Cherkasy, located 200 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, has been virtually on the sidelines of the bombings since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, says the EU “will be by Ukraine’s side for as long as it takes”.
We will be with Ukraine for as long as necessary
The negative global impact of the Russian war will be the first and the center of our exchanges at the G7. pic.twitter.com/nLm8aLOuWP
– Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 26, 2022
Boris Johnson, who is also in Bavaria for the G7 summit, made a similar statement of solidarity with Ukraine.
Now is not the time to give up Ukraine, they need more than ever the support and decision of the @ G7.
The UK will continue to support Ukraine every step of the way, because we know that its security is our security and its freedom is our freedom. pic.twitter.com/hXJ4jhCN1I
– Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) June 26, 2022
There are several unconfirmed reports of more explosions in Kyiv.
A Reuters reporter heard two explosions on the southern outskirts of the capital.
Reports of more explosions in Kyiv and Cherkasy. Belarusian telegram channels reporting several missiles have been launched from their territories in the last minutes.
– Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) June 26, 2022
Just now another airstrike in # Kyiv. Colleagues report explosions.
– Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) June 26, 2022
⚡️Explosions heard in Kyiv, Kyiv and Cherkasy province.
It looks like more missiles are being launched from Belarus.
– Oleksiy Sorokin (@mrsorokaa) June 26, 2022
Updated at 09.39 BST
Carl Bildt, former Swedish Prime Minister and co-chair of the European Foreign Affairs Council, sees this morning’s attack as an escalation of the conflict and a signal for today’s G7 summit in Bavaria.
It’s hard to see this morning’s missile attack on residential areas of Kyiv as anything other than a deliberate escalation and a signal for today’s G7 meeting in Elmau. pic.twitter.com/NvTftqyHPd
– Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) June 26, 2022
One person died in a missile attack in Kyiv
One person was killed in the Russian missile attack in Kyiv, according to an unconfirmed update by Yulia Mendel, a former presidential spokeswoman.
Ukrainian MP Lesia Vaylenko said the victim was the father of a seven-year-old girl who was injured in the attack.
The bombed-out area of #Kiev is Lukyanivka. 10 minutes from the historic center. It was a new residential block next to an old unused military production facility. The rocket left a huge hole in the middle of the playground and fires burning in the city pic.twitter.com/GSYrjHepo2
– Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) June 26, 2022
Updated at 09.34 BST
Analysts have been examining Russian news footage of the visit of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s troops to try to determine who is now in command of Russian forces.
Rob Lee, of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, tweets: “It seems to confirm that Colonel General Gennady Zhidko is the commander.”
Also in the video are the head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff Sergey Rudskoy and Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov. No sign of Colonel General Alexander Lapin or Army General Sergey Surovikin, commanders of the central and southern groupings.2 / pic.twitter.com/5ByDGlgSTB
– Rob Lee (@ RALee85) June 26, 2022
In the picture, however, is Colonel General Gennadiy Zhidko, the commander of the Eastern Military District. It has been speculated that he is now the commander-in-chief of Russian theater in Ukraine after the failures of General Dvornikov. https://t.co/QoJfKq4wCT
– Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) June 26, 2022
Updated at 09.28 BST
Another deputy from Ukraine, Lesia Vasylenko, says seven people may have been injured in the missile attacks in Kyiv. He said at least eight missiles were fired. Earlier, a deputy said 14 missiles were launched.
Euromaidan Press has a video of one of the injured in the Kyiv missile attack that rescuers take away on a stretcher.
At least five people were injured Sunday when a missile hit a building in central Kyiv, Ukrainian police chief Ihor Klymenko told national television.
And Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko has more details about the scale of Russia’s missile attack on Kyiv this morning.
AP quoted him as saying:
According to preliminary data, 14 missiles were launched against the Kyiv and Kiev region.
Russian invaders bomb # Kyiv again.
Since this morning, explosions have been heard in the Shevchenkivsky district of Kyiv. Klitschko stated that there were four arrivals. Deputy Goncharenko said the Russians fired 14 rockets at Kyiv and the region. pic.twitter.com/dcmjeXTOwU
– NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 26, 2022
Updated at 08.50 BST
Matthew Weaver
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has inspected the units of Russian troops involved in Ukraine, Reuters reports, citing the defense ministry.
“At the command posts of the Russian units, Army General Sergei Shoigu heard reports from the commanders on the current situation and the actions of the Russian Armed Forces in the main operational areas,” the ministry said in a statement.
It was not immediately known when the visit took place.
Yaroslav Trofimov of the Wall Street Journal considers this to be the first time Shoigu has visited Ukraine since the war began.
Update: Reuters later clarified that in the pictures it was unclear whether Shoigu actually visited Ukraine.
Updated at 09.27 BST
Summary
- Kyiv has been attacked for the first time since June 5, with Russian missiles hitting at least two residential buildings in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the capital. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people had been taken to hospital and rescuers were working to free people trapped under the rubble. “They (the lifeguards) have taken out a seven-year-old girl. She is alive. Now they are trying to rescue her mother,” Klitschko said.
- The United Kingdom, the US, Canada and Japan will ban imports of Russian gold in the last stage of the effort to paralyze Russia’s economy in response to the war in Ukraine, the Press Association reports. Gold exports were valued at $ 15.2 billion to Russia in 2021 and their importance has increased since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Russian forces are trying to cut the strategic twin city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine, after having reduced Sievierodonetsk to rubble. Lysychansk will become the next main focus of the fighting, as Moscow has launched massive artillery bombardments and airstrikes in areas far from the heart of Eastern battles. Ukraine described its withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk as a “tactical withdrawal” to fight from higher ground in Lysychansk, on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets River.
- Russia will send missiles capable of …