Russia launched its second missile attack of the week on Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, injuring at least 53 people and damaging homes and a children’s hospital, according to officials.
This, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy pleaded in Washington, D.C., for additional aid to support Ukraine’s military response to Russia’s war on his country, which began in February 2022.
Residential apartment windows were blown out and residents ran out onto the street to assess the damage. Debris from the missiles blew a large crater in the ground and destroyed cars parked on the street.
Ukraine’s air defense systems took down all 10 ballistic missiles targeting the capital at about 3 a.m., Ukraine’s Air Force said on Telegram.
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Falling debris resulted in injuries and damage in four of Kyiv’s districts along the Dnipro River, which cuts through the city, according to officials. Kyiv’s military administration said 35 buildings were damaged.
Ukraine’s national police said 53 people, including six children, were injured in the attack. The police said 18 victims were hospitalized.
The country’s Armed Forces General Staff identified the missiles as Iskander-M ballistic missiles and S-400s. Zelenskiyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak praised Western-supplied air defense systems and their operators after Ukraine took down all 10 projectiles.
“The effectiveness of Western weapons in the hands of Ukrainian soldiers cannot be doubted,” Yermak said on Telegram.
A children’s hospital in Kyiv’s Dniprovskyi district had its windows and entrances shattered by debris, but there were no reported casualties, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. Debris also struck several residential buildings in the district, which suffered damage to its water supply.
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Kyiv military administration chief Serhiy Popko said 17 people, including seven children, were evacuated from a residential building in the Dniprovskyi district after debris landed on a building and cars, which started a fire.
Popko said most injuries were caused by windows blown out by the blast wave.
The missiles launched on Wednesday came after ballistic missiles targeted Kyiv early on Monday, injuring four people.
Russia has not made a public comment about the attack on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s air force said it also downed all 10 Russian-launched attack drones over the Odesa region in Ukraine’s southern region.
Reuters contributed to this report.
