LIVE – War in Ukraine: 1 dead and 9 injured in kyiv in ballistic missile strike

Russia fired ballistic missiles at kyiv this morning, killing one person, injuring nine others and depriving hundreds of buildings of heating, an attack carried out, according to Moscow, “in response” to a Ukrainian strike against a Russian factory with missiles Westerners.

The attack was carried out with five “Iskander-M/KN-23” ballistic missiles, the Ukrainian air force said, claiming to have shot them all down.

The Russian army said it attacked kyiv “in response” to a Ukrainian strike carried out on Wednesday against a Russian factory with Western missiles, a red line for Moscow. “In response (…), a group strike was carried out this morning with long-range precision weapons against the control center (of the Ukrainian special services) SBU, the Luch design bureau, based in kyiv, which designs and manufactures Neptune missile systems,” the Russian army said in a statement, assuring that “all targets were hit.”

One person was killed in the Russian missile strike on kyiv. “According to initial information, one person was killed,” the head of the city’s military administration, Sergiy Popko, said on Telegram. He added that Russian forces used Kinjal and Iskander missiles in the attack at around 7 a.m. (5 a.m. GMT).

“As a result of the enemy attack, two people were hospitalized and debris fell in four areas, setting cars and buildings on fire,” kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. “Emergency services are working everywhere,” he added.

Five Russian soldiers who deserted from their units and were in a detention center in the Russian republic of Yakutia (Far East) died in a fire, the local military police station said. Seven other detainees were hospitalized after inhaling smoke in this fire which occurred in the detention center during the night from Thursday to Friday, the police station said on Telegram.

Investigators are working on site to define the causes of the fire and identify the dead, according to the same source. Russian media have regularly reported desertions in the Russian army since the launch of the Russian offensive against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

On the X platform, images show the damage from the strikes carried out this morning on kyiv. Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported at least two injuries. Ukrainian authorities also reported missile attacks in the southern city of Kherson, where one person was killed and six injured, as well as several other towns and villages.

Loud explosions rang out in kyiv this morning after a series of air alerts to ballistic missiles fired from Russia towards Ukrainian territory, an AFP journalist noted. Thick smoke rose above the Ukrainian capital, kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported at least two injuries following the explosions, which occurred the day after Russian President Vladimir’s annual question-and-answer session. Putin, who rejected any truce.

During the draw for qualifying for the 2026 World Cup on December 13, Fifa released, obviously unintentionally, a map of Ukraine without Crimea. World football’s governing body has apologized to kyiv.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President-elect Donald Trump agreed over the phone that Russia’s war against Ukraine has been going on “for too long”, the German government said in a statement yesterday. “It is essential to embark as quickly as possible on the path to a just, equitable and lasting peace,” the two men also said during their telephone interview, adds the German government.

Chancellor Scholz reiterated that he will continue to support Ukraine in its defense against the Russian war of aggression for as long as necessary. At a summit in Brussels yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Europeans to unity, among themselves but also with the United States of Donald Trump, stressing that transatlantic cooperation was essential to move towards lasting peace in Ukraine.