Crossed missile strikes kill six in Russia, one in Kyiv

(Kyiv) Six people died in a Ukrainian strike on the Russian border region of Kursk on Friday, hours after a Russian attack on Kyiv that killed one person and damaged diplomatic missions.

In Russia, this Ukrainian missile strike, described as “massive” by the regional governor, notably hit a cultural center, a school, a higher education establishment and residential buildings in the town of Rylsk, which has around 15,000 residents.

“According to preliminary data, six people died, including a child. Ten injured people were transported to the Rylsk central hospital, including a 13-year-old minor,” Governor Alexander Khinchteïn said on Telegram.

Videos posted on Russian social networks show numerous vehicles on fire, debris littering the streets and buildings with gutted windows or roofs.

The spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, told the state news agency TASS that Russia will demand to discuss this Ukrainian strike at the next meeting of the UN Security Council.

In the morning, it was Russia which struck the Ukrainian capital using drones and missiles, notably affecting a wealthy central district where the roof of a luxury office building was partially destroyed and causing power cuts. heating for several hours.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russian forces fired five Iskander ballistic missiles at Kyiv, all of which were shot down, and 65 explosive drones, 40 of which were shot down.

One person was killed and 13 injured, according to the latest report from local authorities.

“Barbaric attack”

Six diplomatic missions located in the same building were damaged: those of Albania, Argentina, the Palestinian Authority, North Macedonia, Portugal and Montenegro, Ukrainian diplomacy indicated, denouncing a “ barbaric attack.

“A new heinous attack on Kyiv. This time against a building housing the Portuguese embassy and other diplomatic services,” denounced the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on X.

The Portuguese government also condemned the attack “vehemently” in a statement and summoned the Russian charge d’affaires.

Kyiv, which had more than three million inhabitants before the Russian invasion launched in February 2022, is regularly targeted by missiles and explosive drones but significant damage is rather rare, especially in the center, the city being relatively well protected by anti-aircraft defense.

AFP journalists in Kyiv heard a series of explosions around 7 a.m. ET, then saw smoke rising above several locations.

Missile “debris” fell on three neighborhoods in Kyiv, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Viktoria, a doctor who lives in the affected neighborhood, rushed to the bomb shelter of her building after the army warned of an imminent strike.

“Even in the shelter, bricks fell on my head. It's just horrible when people start running from the streets,” she told AFP, claiming that Russians “should burn in hell!” »

“Technological duel”

The Russian army, for its part, said it attacked Kyiv “in response” to a strike carried out by Ukraine on Wednesday with Western missiles against a Russian factory.

“A group strike was carried out […] 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.

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

“You know that such strikes on Russian territory have been carried out, and you know that the president said that there would be a response every time,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

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

Vladimir Putin proposed Thursday during his major annual press conference a “duel” between his “Orechnik” missile, which he suggested firing at the Ukrainian capital, and Western anti-aircraft defense means.

“We are organizing such an experiment, such a high-tech duel, and we will see what will happen. It’s interesting,” he said.

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

The Russian army also bombed Kherson, a large city in the south of the country, at dawn. At least two people were killed and 10 injured.

In eastern Ukraine, where the Russian army has been advancing rapidly in recent months, it announced Friday that it had captured two small villages near the key town of Pokrovsk.