Three killed in strike on central Kyiv, officials say

Three people were killed in a Russian airstrike in Kyiv overnight, Ukrainian officials said.

A ballistic missile landed before the authorities raised the alarm 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT), shortly after an earlier air raid warning ended.

The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said that windows were shattered in the Shevchenkivsky district of the city center, including a metro station, and a fire broke out in a non-residential building. It is not clear what was targeted.

At the scene of the accident, there is a large hole in the road outside a mall – a tall glass tower that has itself been severely damaged by… Either a second missile or a very large fragment.

Officials had previously said that four people were killed in the attack.

Next to the main crater, a Ukrainian forensic expert was examining missile fragments gathered in a pile of twisted gray metal on the sidewalk.

Andrei Kolchitsky, head of the military research laboratory at the Kiev Institute of Scientific Expertise, told the BBC that the crater was caused by a direct hit by an Iskander-M ballistic missile.

“This specific location shows one effect,” he explained. He added: “There were additional strikes, and we collected the rubble. Here the missile directly hit the road.”

“The missile fragments have specific characteristics and markings. By their number you can identify their source.”

Kulchitsky said that the projectile fell before the sirens sounded because the ballistic missiles move so quickly that the sirens cannot respond in time.

The mall was empty when the missile struck, was new before 2022 and no one has moved in since.

Everything around it, including the local McDonald’s restaurant, suffered similar damage.

The explosion destroyed a nearby dental clinic. Inside, employees are sifting through the shattered glass and clutter, recovering what they can.

One of the women was removing ornaments from the plastic Christmas tree that was still standing.

“It’s happened before, but never this bad,” she told me.

When asked how she felt, she shrugged: “We’re used to it.”

A young man emerging from a nearby apartment building described the explosions early this morning.

“There were three successive explosions, then a big fire glowed in the sky and the building shook. The sound was very loud,” Oleksandr said.

“I woke up immediately. I even felt the wall shaking. When the third strike came, it was very scary.”

On Saturday morning, emergency teams and police were everywhere and the main road was cordoned off.

A man wearing a military uniform was collecting twisted gray metal fragments that looked like pieces of a missile.

Videos posted online showed a car on fire and water rushing down a flooded street in the immediate aftermath.

Klitschko said that air defenses were operating around the Ukrainian capital.

This is the second deadly attack on Kyiv this month. After a bombing on the city on New Year’s Day, which led to the death of two people.

In the southern city of Zaporizhia, local authorities said six people were wounded in a Russian raid on Saturday. One woman is said to be in serious condition.

These strikes are the latest in a war that began in the wake of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

They follow several Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory earlier in the week.

The latest strikes come just days before Donald Trump’s imminent inauguration in the United States, with many Ukrainians concerned about Trump’s pledge to reduce US military and financial aid to the besieged country.

The president-elect had claimed this during the election campaign He will end the conflict on the first day of his presidencyAlthough he has since said he may need six months.

In recent days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reaffirmed the country’s dependence on American support as Russian air strikes and fighting on the front line continue.