The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen denounced on Friday a “heinous attack” after Russian strikes damaged six diplomatic missions in kyiv, including that of Portugal. “Another heinous attack on kyiv. This time against a building housing the Portuguese embassy and other diplomatic services,” von der Leyen said on X. It is “another barbaric attack by of Russia against civilian targets”, denounced the head of European diplomacy Kaja Kallas.
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.
The Russian attack was carried out using five “Iskander-M/KN-23” type ballistic missiles, all of which were shot down, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
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.
“Duel”
“A group strike was carried out (…) against the (Ukrainian special services) SBU control center, the Lutch design bureau, based in kyiv, which designs and manufactures Neptune missile systems”, indicated the Russian army in a press release.
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 “Orechnik” missile.
“I stopped humoring since the start of the war”
“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.
AFP journalists in kyiv heard a series of explosions around 7 a.m. (0500 GMT), then saw smoke rising above several locations.
Missile “debris” fell on three neighborhoods in kyiv, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
In particular, they caused a heating cut for several hours in more than 600 residential buildings, health establishments and schools in temperatures close to zero, he lamented.
The worst-hit area is in an affluent central neighborhood where the roof of a luxury office building was partially destroyed.
Charred carcasses were visible nearby. Residential buildings, a hotel, a Catholic church and a university were also damaged.
What is happening in kyiv? Loud explosions heard, Russia communicates (PHOTOS)
“Burn in hell!”
“All the missiles were successfully intercepted, but one of the warheads could not be destroyed, exploding near the office building,” said a Ukrainian analysis center, Defense Express.
Ukraine used the powerful American Patriot system to shoot down the projectiles, according to a Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson.
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 street,” she told AFP, claiming that the Russians “should burn in hell!”
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 this strike which hit “essential” infrastructure, depriving “up to 60,000” homes of electricity, according to regional authorities.
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.
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