Kyiv under heavy Russian attack as fires break out across city
Kyiv came under a heavy Russian attack overnight, with a large pillar of smoke seen rising over the Ukrainian capital and residents urged to shelter. Officials said fires broke out in several districts as debris from incoming weapons struck buildings, cars and open areas. The immediate reports pointed to damage across multiple parts of the city rather than a single site.
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Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a fire had started in the Podil district on the grounds of a non-residential property. He also said a nine-storey apartment building was on fire after debris apparently struck the roof. In the Obolon district, he said cars were burning after being hit by falling missile debris, while fires were also reported at two locations in open areas, including one near a kindergarten.
The attack prompted authorities to tell residents to seek shelter as the situation developed. No casualty figures were included in the supplied reports, and it was not immediately clear how many people may have been affected by the fires or debris strikes. The reports did, however, indicate that the damage was spread across residential and non-residential areas, increasing concern about the scale of the assault.
The strike matters because it hit the Ukrainian capital, where attacks can have both military and civilian consequences. Kyiv has been a repeated target during the war, and any large-scale attack on the city raises immediate questions about air defences, public safety and the resilience of critical urban infrastructure. The mention of a fire near a kindergarten also underlines the risk to civilian sites even when the reported damage is caused by falling debris rather than direct impact.
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The attack came after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned in a nightly address that intelligence indicated a possible massive Russian strike and urged people to pay close attention to air raid alerts. He said defenders were ready around the clock with the supplies currently available. Russia had also warned last week that it intended to launch what it called systematic strikes on targets in Kyiv linked to the Ukrainian military and decision-making centres, and urged foreigners to leave.
That warning was presented by Moscow as a response to a drone strike last week on a dormitory in Ukraine's Russian-held Luhansk region, which it said killed 21 people. The latest reports from Kyiv do not yet say how many missiles or drones were involved, whether any were intercepted, or whether there were injuries. What remains unclear is the full extent of the damage, the number of affected districts, and whether further strikes were expected as the overnight attack continued.
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