Kyiv
\nAt least 22 people have been killed, and several dozens were injured in a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv, which came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of an impending \u201cmassive\u201d attack by Moscow.
\nThe Kyiv city military administration said the death toll had risen to 22 by early Thursday evening, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces would \u201cdefinitely\u201d retaliate for the overnight pummelling of the capital.
\nDamage from the strikes included an \u201cordinary nine-storey residential building\u201d, Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding that a missile had destroyed 64 apartments.
\nFootage shared by the president showed a gaping hole across six floors of the partially collapsed building, surrounded by rubble.
\n\u201cRussia has once again deliberately attacked ordinary civilians and residential buildings,\u201d the president said, adding that more than 130 such sites have been damaged in total across Kyiv.
\nCity administration head Tymur Tkachenko said at least two children were among the injured and three dozen locations across the city had been damaged in the attacks.
\nThe Ukrainian Air Force said Russia attacked the country with 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight. It said on Telegram \u200cthat air defence units downed or neutralised 48 missiles and 476 \u2060drones, but 25 \u2060ballistic missiles and 12 drones hit \u206033 locations.
\n\u201cWe express our condolences to all the victims, families who lost their relatives and loved ones in this terrible terrorist attack. We will take revenge!\u201d it added in a statement.
\nAccording to Al Jazeera\u2019s Audrey MacAlpine, drones began entering the skies over Kyiv just past midnight local time (22:00 GMT).
\n\u201cYou could hear those interceptions overhead, and then very, very large explosions \u2026 around 2am [00:00 GMT],\u201d she said, reporting from the Ukrainian capital.
\nPictures \u2060shared on unofficial Telegram channels showed city residents crowding into underground stations to take cover from the Russian strikes. In the streets, residents were seen making their way to the shelters, carrying sleeping mats under their arms, the AFP news agency reported.
\nResidents had suspected an attack would take place, so thousands preemptively sheltered in the city\u2019s subway systems, MacAlpine said. Dozens of missiles hit at least 30 locations in the city.
\nZelenskyy said the sites included an ambulance station, a scientific institute, a hotel and businesses. Approximately 800,000 books were destroyed in the inventory warehouse of Ukrainian publishing house BookChef, the Kyiv Independent reported, while Ukraine\u2019s private energy company DTEK said its energy infrastructure sustained damage.
\nKlitschko announced a day of mourning in Kyiv for Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kyiv At least 22 people have been killed, and several dozens were injured in a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv, which came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of an impending \u201cmassive\u201d attack by Moscow. The Kyiv city military administration said the death toll had risen to 22 by early Thursday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-554363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n