Kyiv Hit by Surprise Attack

Russian forces launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine on Thursday using ballistic and cruise missiles, injuring at least 10 people in the capital Kyiv.

"After a pause of 44 days, the enemy launched another missile attack on Kyiv," Serhiy Popko, the head of the city's military administration said. "All emergency services are working on sites. Clearing the consequences of the missile attack is underway."

The Context

The missile barrage came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to retaliate for the shelling of targets in Russia that followed a cross-border raid launched by the Freedom of Russia Legion, the Siberian Battalion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) into Russia's southern Belgorod and Kursk regions on March 12. The three Ukraine-aligned volunteer military units are composed of Russian fighters.

What We Know

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Thursday morning that 10 people were injured in the city, two of whom were hospitalized. He said six people were injured in Kyiv's Shevchenkivs'kyi district and four in Sviatoshynskyi.

An apartment in a residential building is on fire in the Shevchenkivs'kyi district, he said, adding that residents of the building were being evacuated.

Debris damaged a kindergarten and a multi-story building in the Svyatoshinskyi district, while in the Podolsk area, missile debris damaged a non-residential building and hit the roof of a residential building.

Popko said Ukraine's air defense systems shot down about 30 missiles over Kyiv. He said an 11-year-old girl and a 38-year-old man were among those injured.

"The enemy used Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 cruise missiles from Tu-95MS strategic bombers and ballistic missiles from the territory of the Russian Federation," he said on Telegram.

The Kremlin hasn't commented on the latest attack. Newsweek has contacted the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia for comment.

Views

Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, shared images and videos showing the aftermath of the missile attack on Kyiv, saying on X, formerly Twitter, that it had been a "scary morning."

One video showed a huge crater in the ground close to a cluster of residential buildings.

Maria Avdeeva, a security expert covering Russia's invasion of Ukraine, said on X that falling missile debris had sparked fires and caused damage across the city.

"If not for air defense consequences would be dreadful. Each Patriot missile saves countless lives," she wrote. "31 out of 31 missiles destroyed this morning: Two ballistic and 29 cruise missiles."

Former minister of economic development and trade Tymofiy Mylovanov shared images of the destruction on X.

"Over 30 missiles - cruise and ballistic - hit Kyiv today. The government says they were intercepted. But the damage is scary. It is a miracle no one has died," he wrote.

What's Next?

The large-scale missile barrage comes after Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said on Tuesday that 16 people were killed and a further 98 were injured in the region by Ukrainian shelling over the past week.

Belgorod is home to several Russian military bases and training grounds. The region has been rocked by explosions and mysterious fires since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Local authorities regularly report unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the area.

Fighting has intensified in the region amid the incursion by the Freedom of Russia Legion, the Siberian Battalion and the RDK.

The three groups have repeatedly urged residents of Belgorod and Kursk to evacuate. On March 13, they said in a joint-statement on Telegram that they were "forced to inflict fire on military positions located in Belgorod" because "every day, dozens of ordinary innocent Ukrainians (mostly women and children) die from shelling from Belgorod."

"We can respond in the same way," Putin warned on Wednesday. "And against civilian infrastructure and all other objects of this kind that the enemy attacks. We have our own views on this matter and our own plans. We will follow what we have outlined."

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