Russia has launched a dawn missile and drone barrage on the Ukrainian capital, killing at least two people, Ukrainian officials have said.
Eight people were also wounded in the attack, including four children, the Kyiv City Military Administration said in a post on Telegram.
At least one ballistic missile and 28 Russian drones were recorded in Kyiv’s airspace, the administration said.
Air Defence forces shot down the missile and 11 of the drones.
A five-storey residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district was hit by drone debris, sparking a fire in several apartments where the victims were found, local officials said.
Four people, including three children, were hospitalised, while others received treatment at the scene.
In the Sviatoshynskyi district, fires broke out across multiple upper-floor apartments of a nine-storey building after drone debris impact, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration.
Five people were rescued from the blaze, which spread across 100 square metres.
In Dniprovskyi district, the upper floors of a high-rise were partially destroyed by a drone strike, but no injuries were reported.
And in Solomianskyi, a ballistic missile was intercepted by air defences, with the warhead falling and damaging non-residential infrastructure. One person was injured in that strike.
Attacks ahead of Victory Day parade
There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the attacks which come ahead of a planned unilateral 72-hours ceasefire announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin to coincide with celebrations in Moscow marking Victory Day in World War II.
The Kremlin said the truce, ordered on “humanitarian grounds,” would start on Thursday and until Saturday to mark Moscow’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
Russian officials reported shooting down Ukrainian drones overnight, with local Governor Alexander Bogmaz writing on social media that more than 140 airborne targets had been destroyed over Russia’s Bryansk region.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that local air defences had repelled an attack by nine drones close to the Russian capital, just hours after the city’s major airports were forced to ground flights due to concerns over aerial strikes.
Drone attacks were also reported over the Tula region, where officials reported five drone attacks, and the Yaroslavl region, where local Governor Mikhail Evraev said three drones had been destroyed.
Victory Day celebrates the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 and is Russia’s biggest secular holiday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and others will gather in Moscow on Thursday for the 80th anniversary and watch a parade featuring thousands of troops accompanied by tanks and missiles.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry urged foreign countries not to send military representatives to take part in the parade, as some have in the past.
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