Even in a city where people have adapted to the normal routines of wartime life, the volley of Russian rockets that rained down on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv at dawn on Tuesday was a reminder that in when fighting had concentrated hundreds of miles to the east, the city remained the center of Russian attention.
It was the second day the ballistic missiles started roaring, beginning shortly after 11 a.m. Monday – a rare daytime strike that sent city dwellers racing for cover – and were quickly fired. Summer. Then attacks broke out again early Tuesday, making it clear that even as Kiev, backed by its Western allies, builds up its air defenses, Russian forces are still intent. test for weaknesses.
Ukrainian officials say they have changed the timing of the bombardment, the combination of weapons used and the trajectory of the missiles and drones, recently sending them flying low along the river bed and through the valleys to avoid detection.
Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force Command, said in an appearance on national television over the weekend that Russia was trying to “confuse and deceive their air defenses” I”. “It uses the topography of the area to disappear from radar.”
Ukrainian officials said on Monday 11 ballistic missiles were aimed at Ukraine and 11 were intercepted. But debris from the aerial collisions caused fires and other damage, as Ukrainians looked up in horror to the clear blue skies of their densely populated city to witness a battle unfolding. out with explosive power.
Schoolchildren with backpacks ran in panic after an explosion rang out on a city street, One video widely shared on social media by Ukrainian officials.
“How they cried, how they shouted!” Natalia Nevidoma, 53, said she was cleaning the front porch of a restaurant when teachers led small children through the entrance. “You know, it’s very painful and scary.”
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned residents in a post on the messaging app Telegram not to leave their shelters. Klitschko added that about 20 residents of a high-rise building in Kyiv were also evacuated early Tuesday after debris falling from a Russian-launched aerial target was destroyed and caused damage. out fire. According to the mayor, one person died and one woman was injured by falling debris. Another injury was also reported from the missile bombardment, but no immediate details were available.
The attack was immediately condemned by the Ukrainian government. Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv regional military administration, said in a statement: “Russian forces attacked a peaceful city during the day, when most residents were on their way to work and on street”.
“In other words,” said Popko, “the Russians are clearly demonstrating that they are aiming to destroy civilians.”
Russian officials generally deny targeting civilian areas. They said Monday’s attacks targeted air bases, and Ukrainian officials said Moscow hit at least one military facility, damaging an airport in Khmelnytskyi, western Ukraine. “Five aerial vehicles have been deactivated,” Khmelnytskyi Regional Military Administration said in a statement.
The intensifying attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks rival those in some of the fiercest moments of the war for the city of 3.6 million people. In Kiev, as elsewhere in Ukraine, Moscow has repeatedly deployed attack drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, Ukrainian officials said. On Sunday, Ukrainian air defense teams repelled the Russian plane. biggest drone strike on Kyiv since the beginning of the war.
Kiev was not the only target on Monday.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia fired up to 40 cruise missiles and 35 Iranian-made attack drones before dawn on Monday. It said 37 missiles and 29 drones were shot down. However, a missile hit a village in the Kharkov region, Kivsharivka, injuring at least three people, according to the local military government.
In Kyiv, emergency teams were dispatched to extinguish the fire caused by falling debris. The Kyiv regional military administration said it was working to liberate at least six locations around the capital, including a major road.
Kseniia Khyzhniak, 35, was taking advantage of her day off work to watch a TV series when the sirens sent her racing to her children’s school.
“I was looking at the sky, and anti-aircraft missiles were flying there,” Khyzhniak said. There was a bang, then another hour when her two young children ran to meet her and they ran to the shelter, holding hands, she said.
“Hurry up!” She said Ukrainians standing at the entrance shouted and waved them in.
Oleksandr, 40, a tech worker who declined to give his last name, said he’s also sought shelter – even if he’s not really sure what the purpose is.
“It’s mathematically more likely to be hit by a car and die in Kiev at the moment than from shelling,” he said. “But I can’t dictate how my body reacts, you know?”
Anatolii Semenov, 68 years old, retired at home, more philosophical.
“I don’t go to shelters,” he said. “I’ve never done it. There’s a Ukrainian proverb: ‘What has to happen must happen.’ My father taught me that.”
