Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, was hit with missiles for the first time in more than a month early Sunday, while Ukrainian officials reported a counter-attack on the key eastern battleground had retaken half of the city of Sievierodonetsk.
After the attack on two outlying neighbourhoods of Kyiv, dark smoke could be seen for miles. According to Ukraine, the strike targeted a rail car repair facility. Moscow claimed to have destroyed tanks supplied to Ukraine by Eastern European countries.
Although there were no early reports of deaths, at least one person was taken to the hospital. The strike served as a stark reminder of war in a metropolis where normalcy has mostly returned after Russian soldiers were forced out in March. “The Kremlin has resorted to new deception tactics. The missile strikes on Kyiv today have only one goal: to murder as many people as possible,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak tweeted.
Ukraine claimed Russia carried out the strike by firing long-range air-launched missiles from heavy bombers as far as the Caspian Sea, a weapon far more valuable than the tanks Russia claimed to have damaged.
A Russian cruise missile flew “critically low” over Ukraine’s second largest nuclear power facility, according to the country’s nuclear power operator.
The attack on Kyiv on Sunday was the city’s first major attack since a rocket killed a journalist in late April. Russia has concentrated its destructive might in recent weeks on front lines in the east and south, but it has struck elsewhere on occasion in what it calls a mission to weaken Ukraine’s military infrastructure and disrupt Western arms shipments.
Russian Major General Roman Kutuzov was killed in eastern Ukraine, according to a Russian state media journalist.
Pope Francis reaffirmed appeals for “serious discussions” to cease the “increasingly dangerous escalation” of the war in Ukraine in a Sunday address to 35,000 people in Rome. “As the fury of devastation and death rages and confrontations erupt, fueling an escalation that is increasingly perilous for all,” the pontiff added, “I renew my appeal to the leaders of nations: Please do not lead mankind to catastrophe.”
President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Russian state television that if the West supplies Ukraine with longer-range missiles, Moscow will strike new targets. However, he downplayed the importance of upgraded rocket systems promised by the US to Ukraine last week, claiming that they would have no influence on the combat.
In recent weeks, Russia has concentrated its forces in the small eastern industrial city of Sievierodonetsk, waging one of the war’s most significant ground engagements in an attempt to capture one of two eastern provinces it claims on behalf of separatist proxies.
Ukraine launched a counter-offensive in the city after retreating slowly in previous days, which it claims caught the Russians off guard. According to Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region, which contains Sievierodonetsk, Ukrainian forces currently control half of the city after recapturing a swath of it and are continuing to push the Russians back.
