Ukraine war: Russian air strikes target Kiev for the third night in a row

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By Yaroslav Lukiev, BBC News, May 30, 2023, 03:34 GMT

Updated 18 minutes ago

Image source, military administration of the city of Kiev

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Local officials said that two upper floors of a high-rise building were destroyed in Kiev

Explosions were heard in Kiev and several buildings were set on fire after Russia targeted the Ukrainian capital for the third night in a row.

Falling debris caused the fires, officials say, as more than 20 drones were intercepted by Ukrainian air defenses. At least one person has been reported killed.

Ukraine says it shot down all missiles and drones in the previous two attacks.

The mayor of the Russian capital said that a drone attack in Moscow caused minor damage to several buildings.

Sergey Sobyanin said that “all the city’s emergency services” were on the scene, adding that “so far no one has been seriously injured.”

At 06:24 local time (03:24 GMT), in northwest Moscow, BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg heard an explosion in the distance, and the windows of his house shook.

At 06:58, another explosion was heard in the distance. He said it was the first time he had started his morning like this.

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The population is now accustomed to almost daily airstrikes

Citing preliminary information, the Kiev military department said more than 20 kamikaze drones were destroyed in the latest attack.

It added that one person was killed and three injured when a fire broke out in a multi-storey building in the southern Holosevsky district,

“Two upper floors have been destroyed and there may be people under the rubble,” the administration said in a statement.

Two private buildings caught fire and several cars were damaged in the Darnitsky district – across the Dnipro River.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the latest attack as “massive” and urged residents “not to leave the shelters”.

The air raid alert was raised three hours later, meaning the Russian air attack was over for the time being.

It was the 17th attack on the capital since the beginning of May, including a rare daytime attack on Monday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the US-made Patriot air defenses provided to Ukraine.

In his video address late Monday, he said they had “100% guaranteed to shoot down any Russian missiles”.

Zelensky added, “Russia wants to follow the path of evil to the end, that is, to its defeat, because evil cannot have any other end than defeat. The world must see that terrorism loses.”

The Russian military succeeded in hitting some targets – apparently including an air base – in other regions of Ukraine.

Authorities in the western Khmelnytskyi region said on Monday that five planes had been damaged at a military site. The runway is now being repaired, authorities added, without providing any further details.

The Russian military said that all intended targets were hit during its recent attacks on Kiev and other Ukrainian cities.

The claims of the warring parties have not been independently verified.

Russia – which launched its all-out invasion in February 2022 – uses kamikaze drones as well as an array of cruise and ballistic missiles.

Analysts say Moscow is seeking to deplete and destroy Ukraine’s air defenses before its long-awaited counterattack.

Ukraine had been planning a counterattack for months. But she wanted as much time as possible to train troops and receive military equipment from the Western allies.

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Several cars were destroyed in a district of Kiev

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There was anger but also defiance on the faces of the Kievites

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