War in Ukraine | One dead, nine injured in Russian missile strike on Kyiv

(Kyiv) Russia fired ballistic missiles at Kyiv on Friday 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 Western missiles.

“According to initial information, one person was killed,” Sergiï Popko, head of the military administration of the Ukrainian capital which had more than 3 million inhabitants before the Russian invasion launched in February 2022, said on Telegram.

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.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported nine injured, four of whom were hospitalized. “Emergency services are working everywhere,” assured the mayor.

The Russian army, for its part, said it attacked Kyiv “in response” to a 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 [des services spéciaux ukrainiens] SBU, the Lutch design bureau, based in Kyiv, which designs and manufactures Neptune missile systems,” the Russian army said in a statement.

“All the targets were hit,” she said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed that Moscow will respond to all Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil carried out using Western missiles, even threatening to relaunch its new Russian “Oreshnik” missile.

« Duel »

This attack on Kyiv came after an exchange of barbs between the master of the Kremlin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

During his annual press conference, Vladimir Putin proposed Thursday a “high-tech duel of the 21st^e century” between its “Orechnik” missile, which it proposed to fire on the Ukrainian capital, and Western anti-aircraft defense means.

“People are dying, and he thinks it’s “interesting”… Asshole,” President Zelensky fumed on X.

On Friday morning, AFP journalists in Kyiv heard a series of explosions following alerts from the Ukrainian air force of an imminent ballistic missile attack.

Shortly after, AFP saw smoke rising above several places in the capital.

“Debris” from missiles fell on three districts of the city, damaging in particular the heating system, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

“630 residential buildings, 16 health establishments” and around thirty schools “are deprived of heating”, at a time when temperatures flirt with the negative ones, he lamented.

An AFP photographer saw firefighters battling the flames in the middle of the street in a wealthy central district.

“Burn in hell!” »

Authorities released images showing the roof of a partially destroyed luxury office building and charred car wrecks.

Safe and sound, Viktoria, a female doctor, who lives in the affected neighborhood, is overwhelmed by shock and anger. She rushed to the bomb shelter of her building after the army’s warning.

“Russkofs should burn in hell!” », says the young woman.

The Russian army also carried out a “massive” bombardment at dawn on Kherson, a large city in the south of the country, using artillery, killing at least two people and injuring ten others, according to the regional administration.

The strikes also affected “essential” infrastructure, depriving “up to 60,000” homes of electricity, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram.