Russian forces restarted their assault on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on early Sunday after Moscow ordered a retreat in late April. At least one person hospitalised with injuries and no deaths have been reported.
Media reports citing Ukrainian officials suggest that the attacks came in the form of a barrage of missiles and largely hit an unspecified number of “infrastructural targets.” The sense of calm was broken in the Ukrainian capital city on Sunday.
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Such attacks were last witnessed in Kyiv on April 28, when United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited the war-torn city. He met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the visit.
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, announced in a social media post that the Russian missiles hit the Darnytski and Dniprovski districts. Emergency services were quickly deployed to the areas.
Air raid missiles had broken the silence of Kyiv as Russian missiles rained down.
The recent attack showed that Russia still had the capability and willingness to target Ukraine’s capital since abandoning its wider offensive across the country to instead focus its efforts in the east.
An acrid smell of smoke filled the air in the Darnystki district of eastern Kyiv, with a billowing pillar of smoke rising in the sky. Soldiers and police blocked off a main road to the site, Associated Press reported.
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Russian forces made no or little progress on the outskirts of Kyiv roughly a month after invading the country. Moscow ordered its forces to tone down the assault on the national capital and reposition. Soon after the orders, southern and eastern regions of Ukraine came under heavy attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while addressing Luxembourg’s parliament earlier this month, said that Russia was now in control of roughly 20% of the country’s territory.