Updated at 5:30 p.m. on June 26 to clarify the number of victims.
Russia’s early morning strikes on Kyiv on Sunday killed one person and wounded six, including a seven-year-old girl, the Ukrainian capital’s mayor said, updating the toll.
“A body was found. Six residents were wounded. Four of them were hospitalized, including a seven-year-old girl,” Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko said. The initial toll said that two people were wounded in the attacks, Russia’s first strikes on the city in nearly three weeks.
Four explosions were heard at around 6:30 am (0330 GMT), half an hour after air raid sirens sounded in the capital, which has not come under Russian bombardment for nearly three weeks.
“Several explosions in the Shevchenkivsky district,” Klitschko said on Telegram.
“Ambulances and rescuers are on site. In two buildings, the rescue and evacuation of residents are underway,” he added.
Klitschko, who visited the scene, later said that “there are people under the rubble”.
Klitschko said it was a Russian missile strike intended to “intimidate Ukrainians” ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid from June 28-30.
The state emergency service said on Telegram that “as a result of enemy shelling, a fire broke out in a nine-story building”.
An AFP team said there was a fire on the top three floors of the building and its stairwell was completely destroyed.
Thick smoke was seen in the affected residential area, which was cordoned off by police.
An AFP colleague living in the same residential complex heard a loud buzz preceding the explosions, which sounded like a missile strike.
Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko said on Telegram that Russia had fired 14 missiles at Kyiv and its region on Sunday morning.
Regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram that “the enemy had struck the capital”.
“A missile was shot down in the Kyiv region, the debris fell on a village”, he added.
‘Huge explosion’
The residents of the residential complex gathered at the bottom of the building, many of them in tears. One woman was still wearing a bathrobe.
“They bombed here three times,” 38-year-old resident Yuri told AFP, declining to give his surname.
“I woke up at the first explosion, went to the balcony and saw missiles falling and heard a huge explosion — everything vibrated,” he said.
Edouard Chkouta, who lives next door, said there had been four missiles since 6.30 am.
A building “was directly hit on the top floors and I saw wounded people coming out”, he said.
Irena, 32, evacuated the building with her 17-month-old son Makar.
“We came down with our emergency kit, which has been next to the door since the war started,” she said.
Russia said on Sunday its morning strike on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, had hit a missile factory.
The Artyom factory “was the target, as military infrastructure” the Russian defense ministry said in a statement, adding that damage to a nearby residential building was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile.
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