KYIV—The Ukrainian capital was rocked by a series of explosions over six hours, starting from around six in the morning and lasting until noon.
These are the first strikes to hit the capital in weeks, coming just days after the Ukrainian military retreated from the strategic eastern city of Severodonetsk.
The first Russian missiles hit a residential building and a kindergarten in the Shevchenkiv’ski district of the Ukrainian capital, just one street over from a state-owned facility responsible for the production of rockets and other ordnance for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The early-morning strike kicked off an hours-long rescue operation of people still trapped in the building. Firefighters walked the rooftops while other crews shoveled debris from burnt-out apartments.
Anton Gerashchenko, spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, displayed the Russian passport of Ekaterina Volkova. He said the strike highlighted Russia’s indifference to human life – including Russians.
Gerashchenko said the 35-year-old Moscow-born mother was injured in the explosion, buried under bricks, as was her seven-year-old daughter. He added Volkova’s husband was missing, lost among the rubble.
Both mother and daughter were taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Up the street, an impact crater flooded with water scarred the playground of a kindergarten. The wall of the school was pockmarked with shrapnel.
Gerashchenko said the early-morning Sunday strike meant that no children were there at the time and mockingly dismissed the kindergarten as the Russians’ idea of a strategic object.
Another air raid alarm went off around 10:40 a.m., with people on the southern outskirts of the city reporting a series of explosions shortly after.
It’s currently unknown if those explosions were from incoming Russian missiles or Ukraine’s air defense systems.
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