At least one person has been killed and seven wounded after a Russian missile attack targeted Ukraine’s capital.
Friday morning’s attack also targeted buildings in Kyiv and set fires in some of them, according to the head of the Kyiv army administration, Serhiy Popko.
Russia introduced 8 missiles into kyiv, Popko said, adding that it used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and Iskander/KN-23 ballistic missiles to neutralize the attack.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defenses were working in the wake of a missile attack that Russia said was a “response” to Ukrainian moves this week with Western missiles targeting a chemical plant in southern Russia.
“In response to the actions of the Kyiv regime, supported by its Western handlers, a combined strike with long-range precision weapons was launched today,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement.
Media reports in Ukraine, quoting witnesses on the ground, said a series of loud blasts were heard in Kyiv and smoke could be seen rising over part of the city.
“Ballistic missile from the north!” the Ukrainian Air Force warned in a Telegram message.
Local media outlet the Kyiv Independent said several explosions took place at about 7am (05:00 GMT). It quoted Klitschko as saying that “multiple cars were on fire in the Holosiivskyi district of the city due to the falling debris from a missile”.
Fires also broke out in the Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts of kyiv, as well as in a structure in the Dnipro district.
The city’s mayor said at least seven other people were injured, four of whom were taken to hospital.
Prior to the air raid, the Ukrainian Air Force warned that a MiG-31 Russian fighter jet capable of firing hypersonic missiles had taken off from a Russian airbase, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Later on Friday, Ukraine’s Air Force said it downed five ballistic missiles and 40 drones, with a further 20 drones failing to reach their targets.
On Thursday, at an end-of-year media conference, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin proposed a “high-tech duel” with Kyiv and suggested he would test his claims that Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile is impervious to air defences.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the provocation and called Putin’s entourage “thugs. “
Al Jazeera editor-in-chief Alex Gatopoulos, from the Ukrainian city of Odessa, said the Russian attack was a direct result of barbs exchanged between the two presidents.
“Putin has said we can overcome it and we will overcome it, and they showed that they are capable of doing it,” Gatopoulos said.
Two overnight airstrike alerts were issued in Kyiv due to drone strikes. The city government said air defense intercepted all the drones and debris fell in the Desnianskyi district.
In southern Ukraine, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Ukrainian infantrymen pushed back Russian sabotage and reconnaissance teams overnight as they tried to advance toward the city of Kherson, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Prokudin said Russian forces have attacked residential spaces and critical infrastructure. One user died and at least nine others were injured, according to the local government cited in the media.
Russian troops carried out attacks from the southern region of Ukraine to a foothold on the islands of the Dnieper Delta.