KYIV, May 24 — Russia struck Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Sunday with a massive wave of missiles and drones that damaged residential buildings, offices and schools, killing at least one person and injuring 21.
Explosions reverberated through the city just after 1am (2200 GMT Saturday), following a warning by Ukraine's Air Force on its Telegram channel that Russia might launch a hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile.
It did not respond to a request for comment on whether an Oreshnik struck any target during the attack.
On Telegram, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that one person was believed to have been killed after a nine-story residential building in the capital's central district of Shevchenko was hit. Emergency services were at the site, extinguishing a blaze.
Meanwhile, 21 people were injured, with 13 of those hospitalised, three of them in serious condition. Air raid sirens sounded again after sunrise on Sunday in Kyiv.
Many residents sought shelter overnight in the city's metro stations. Resident Nataliia Zvarych, 62, said she had rushed to her local station as explosions started rocking the city.
"It was terrifying, scary. We have been sitting here for more than three hours now, listening to the explosions up there," she said.
Klitschko added that in Shevchenko, several people were trapped inside an air raid shelter at a school after a strike blocked its entrance with debris.
The head of the city's military administration said more people were believed to be trapped in a shelter at a business centre in the same neighbourhood. Over 40 locations in the city had been damaged.
Strikes were reported in other parts of Ukraine. Broader Kyiv region governor Mykola Kalashnyk said that three more people were injured.
Sunrise reveals damage
As the sun rose, black smoke from several fires drifted across the city's skyline. Fire workers used hoses to douse the flames in damaged buildings, and rescue workers evacuated the wounded.
Images revealed that the front facade of one five-storey residential building in Shevchenko had collapsed. Officials reported damage to offices, shops, and the foyer of a metro station.
In the city's historic Independence Square, a post office was damaged by an explosion.
On Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned Russia was preparing a strike against Ukraine using the Oreshnik missile, citing intelligence from Ukraine, the United States, and Europe.
Russia has already attacked Ukraine twice with the Oreshnik, a missile which Russian President Vladimir Putin has boasted is impossible to intercept because of its reported velocity of more than 10 times the speed of sound.
Zelenskiy's warning came after Putin ordered his military to prepare options for retaliation against Ukraine for a drone strike on a student dorm in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine on Friday.
Ukraine's military denied the accusations and said it had targeted a Russian drone command unit.
Neighbouring Poland activated its military aviation amid large-scale strikes on Sunday, but the Polish Army reported that no airspace violations were detected.
