KYIV: Russian missiles struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv and killed at least three people elsewhere in the Ukrainian capital Monday, authorities said, while another attack in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed at least 10 people.
It was the biggest bombardment of Kyiv in several months. The daylight attacks included Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, one of the most advanced Russian weapons, the Ukrainian air force said. The Kinzhal flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. City buildings shook from the blasts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia targeted five cities with more than 40 missiles of different types, hitting apartment buildings and public infrastructure.
In Kryvyi Rih, 31 people were injured in addition to the 10 deaths in what the head of city administration, Oleksandr Vilkul, said was a massive missile attack.
There was no immediate word on casualties at Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine’s biggest children’s medical facility.
The Kyiv city administration reported falling debris, presumably from intercepted missiles, in a handful of Kyiv areas, starting fires. Thick plumes of smoke rose from several Kyiv neighborhoods.
The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermal, said the attack occurred at a time when many people were in the city’s streets.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said official assessments of the attack’s consequences were still being carried out.
Explosions were also reported by local officials in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region.
The attack came on the eve of a three-day NATO summit in Washington, which will look at how to reassure Ukraine of the alliance’s unwavering support and offer Ukrainians hope that their country can come through Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.