A new Russian airstrike targeted Kiev on Monday morning, injuring at least one person, as Ukrainian authorities admitted in a rare public statement that a military site in the west of the country had been hit in another wave of strikes during the night.
After nighttime bombardments, aerial sirens sounded again in the Ukrainian capital in the morning, followed by a series of explosions around 11:10 a.m. local time, AFP journalists heard.
“Explosions in the city, in central districts,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram. “The air defense is in action,” added the kyiv military administration.
Russia has stepped up its aerial attacks on the Ukrainian capital since the beginning of the month, but so far almost all of them have taken place at night.
According to the mayor, a man was injured and hospitalized at this point. Debris from downed missiles fell on at least three neighborhoods located in the north and east of the capital, notably causing a fire, according to the military administration.
“All (Russian) air targets have been successfully hit by anti-aircraft defense,” said the source, criticizing the fact that “the Russians are clearly demonstrating that they aim to destroy the civilian population”.
Earlier in the day, the Khmelnytsky regional administration in western Ukraine said a military site had been hit by a Russian attack overnight, implying that it was depots and an army airfield.
“Russian troops hit several sites including a military one in the Khmelnytsky region,” she said on Telegram.
The administration reported “fires in fuel depots” and military equipment and a damaged airstrip. “Work to contain the fires is continuing,” she added.
“Exhausting Air Defense”
“Five flying devices have been taken out of service,” said this source, without giving further details. “Repair work on an airstrip has begun,” according to the administration.
She gave no figures on possible victims, merely saying that this information was “being clarified”.
This is a very rare public statement by the Ukrainian authorities, which have hardly revealed their military losses since the start of the Russian invasion launched in February 2022.
The bombardment in the west was part of a massive airstrike against Ukraine launched overnight from Sunday to Monday, a day after an unprecedented drone strike attempt against Kiev.
“Last night, the occupiers attacked military sites and those of critical infrastructure of Ukraine” by launching “up to 40 cruise missiles” from planes over the Caspian Sea and “about 35 drones” from the north and the south, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny, said on Telegram on Monday.
In the capital Kyiv alone, “more than 40 aerial targets” were destroyed “overnight, the city’s military administration said it was the 15e attack on the capital since the beginning of the month. »
“Another difficult night for the capital,” said capital mayor Vitali Klitschko on Telegram. “Thanks to the professionalism” of the air defense, the attack did not cause any casualties or major damage, he however welcomed.
With their repeated bombardments, the Russians “seek to exhaust the Ukrainian air defense” and to “keep the civilian population in a state of deep psychological tension”, for its part estimated the military administration of Kiev.
Ukraine has been preparing for months a major counter-offensive against Russian troops who occupy vast territories in the south and east of the country.
“Soon will come the time when we will go on the offensive,” assured Monday the commander of Ukrainian ground troops, General Okesandre Syrsky.