Ten injured as Russian missile debris hits Kyiv, officials say

Debris from a Russian missile attack wrecked part of a three-storey building in central Kyiv on Monday morning and left at least 10 people injured across the city, officials said.

School children had to run for cover during the assault, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

The side of the building, which held an art academy’s gym and exhibition hall, was reduced to rubble in an area packed with hi-rise apartment blocks.

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down two ballistic missiles fired from the occupied Crimean peninsula, more than 500 km (310 miles) away.

Missile debris came down in the capital’s Solomyanskyi, Holosiyivskyi and Darnytskyi districts, the Kyiv city administration said. The street outside the building was littered with bricks and cars coated in a thick layer of dust.

Kyiv’s air alert system, which usually gives ample advance warning of danger, only sounded about a minute before the first of several explosions were heard by Reuters reporters.

A woman working in the building was injured, acting culture minister Rostyslav Karandieiev said. “Nobody died according to preliminary information,” he added. At least nine others were injured in the district, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Ukraine’s allies to supply more air defences.

Russia, which has stepped up its missile and drone strikes over the past week, staged its biggest attack on Ukraine’s energy system in more than two years of war on Friday, according to Kyiv.

Moscow made no immediate comment on Monday’s attack but has said it does not target civilians or civilian facilities.

Andriy Yermak, the president’s chief of staff, described Russia and its president as “terrorists”, comparing them in a statement to Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for a deadly shooting in Moscow on Friday.

U.S. ambassador to Kyiv Bridget Brink said Russia had used hypersonic missiles to attack the Ukrainian capital.

“Over the last five days, Russia has launched hundreds of missiles and drones against a sovereign country,” Brink said.