KIEV, Ukraine — Russia launched renewed attacks in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev in the early hours of Thursday, killing three people, including at least one child. Air raid sirens and loud explosions across the city woke residents exhausted after a month of relentless attacks.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in the Telegram messaging app that another 16 people were injured by debris from anti-aircraft systems repelling incoming attacks. The headquarters of the Ukrainian General Staff said Kiev was attacked by a volley of ten Iskander ballistic missiles and all were shot down.
According to the city’s military administration, parts of the debris fell on a children’s hospital and an adjacent building. A mother and child were killed trying to get into a locked room at the clinic, according to rescue workers at the scene, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the news media.
City officials launched a criminal investigation into the clinic and the administrators responsible for running the accommodation there. The main concerns were whether the accommodation was properly maintained and why it might have been inaccessible, Mr Klitschko said.
It was one more night that the 3.6 million residents of Kiev were roused from their beds and forced to flee. The night’s attack early Thursday left residents very little time to take cover as anti-missile defense systems collided with missiles just six minutes after the air alert sounded, the Kyiv military administration said.
Throughout May, 17 round-the-clock waves of attacks pounded residents, including drones, ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
Though Kiev has been under attack since the first days of the war, the pace and intensity of the attacks over the past month have been staggering even for civilians who are now used to spending hours in bomb shelters and sleepless nights huddled in corridors. Thursday’s strikes seemed to indicate the campaign would continue into June.
On Wednesday, in a speech marking International Children’s Day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at least 483 Ukrainian children had been killed since the all-out war began and countless others had their right to a safe environment, education and health care guaranteed by the Russian invasion was injured.
“For 15 months, Russian aggression and terror have been destroying not only buildings but also basic human rights – the basic rights of our children,” he said.
Officials in Kiev said Children’s Day events scheduled for Thursday have been cancelled.
The week started with a rare daylight raid on the capital, when rockets hit Kiev shortly after 11 a.m. on Monday, causing schoolchildren to flee in fear. Each missile was intercepted by the anti-aircraft systems, but its debris caused fires and other damage.
Russian forces have changed the timing of bombings, combinations of weapons used and trajectories of missiles and drones, and have recently been flying them low along river beds and through valleys to avoid detection, Ukrainian officials say.
Andrew E Kramer And Nicole Tung reports from Kiev, Ukraine and Victoria Kim from Seoul. Marc Santora contributed to the coverage from Kiev and Juston Jones from New York.
