Russia launched drones and ballistic missiles at multiple targets across Ukraine, Kyiv authorities said on Friday, in a deadly air assault that left at least four people dead and 20 wounded in the capital, CNN reported.
Ukraine is hit by nightly barrages of Russian drones and missiles. But the country has been bracing for a major retaliatory strike promised by President Vladimir Putin following its daring raids on airfields deep inside Russia. It was unclear whether the assault into Friday was that strike or if further barrages can be expected in the coming days.
Fires caused by falling debris and drone strikes were reported in buildings across Kyiv, as Ukraine attempted to repel the Russian attack, the Head of Kyiv City Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko said. A CNN producer in the Kyiv region reported hearing at least two explosions.
Tkachenko accused Russia of hitting residential areas with the drone attack, saying a high-rise building the the Solomyansky district of Kyiv was damaged. Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko also reported fires in the districts of Holosiivskyi and Darnytskyi of the Ukrainian capital.
Ukrainian air defense units were activated in the Obolon area of Kyiv, Klitschko said on Telegram early Friday morning local time. “The attack on the capital continues. Stay in shelters!” he said.
In the northwestern city of Lutsk – around 60 miles from the border with Poland – Russian strikes wounded five people, its mayor Ihor Polishchuk wrote on Telegram early Friday.
Separately, a Ukrainian drone attack hit an industrial site in the southern Russian city of Engels, the governor of the region said on Friday.
Footage that CNN has geolocated to the Engels site – about 460 kilometers (285 miles) from the border with Ukraine – shows flames burning and plumes of smoke billowing into the air.
MNA
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