A minimum of one man is killed in Kyiv, its mayor says, a day after Russia warned Western tank deliveries sign an escalation.
A minimum of one particular person was reported killed in Kyiv as Russia pummeled Ukraine with a wave of missile and drone assaults.
Thursday’s rush-hour assault got here a day after Kyiv secured the battle tanks it has lengthy referred to as for from Germany and the US, a improvement Russia warned was a “harmful” escalation.
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, stated a missile killed a 55-year-old man, the primary loss of life from an assault within the capital since New 12 months’s Eve, whereas two folks had been injured.
Crowds of individuals took shelter in prepare stations as air raid sirens rang out throughout the nation.
A Ukrainian air pressure spokesperson stated as many as six Tu-95 warplanes took off from the Arctic area of Murmansk in northern Russia and launched long-range missiles.
Kyiv authorities stated their air defences shot down greater than 15 Russian missiles fired on the capital, however they urged residents to take shelter because of the risk of extra assaults.
Strikes had been additionally reported within the central area of Vinnytsia.
Ukraine’s navy stated its anti-aircraft defences shot down all 24 Iranian-made drones despatched by Russia in a single day.
Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler, reporting from Kyiv, stated that in keeping with native officers, 20 missiles heading within the course of the capital had been intercepted.
“We heard a really loud explosion,” Butler stated. “We now know that it was a rocket that hit a non-residential constructing. We imagine it may need been some important infrastructure.”
Odesa’s governor, Maksym Marchenko, stated a number of power services had been broken, inflicting “vital issues” with the electrical energy provide.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest personal power producer, stated it was introducing emergency energy shutdowns in Kyiv, the encompassing area, and the areas of Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk due to the hazard of missile assaults.
Different energy producers elsewhere in Ukraine additionally stated they had been conducting emergency shutdowns.
In the meantime, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius stated Ukrainian troopers will begin coaching on find out how to use Leopard 2 tanks and Marder infantry preventing automobiles “a bit of later”. His remark adopted Berlin’s announcement on Wednesday that it could ship the tanks to Ukraine, ending a weeks-long Western political impasse.
“In any case, the purpose with the Leopards is to have the primary firm in Ukraine by the tip of March, starting of April,” Pistorius stated. “I can’t say the exact day.”