Ukraine says Russian warplanes have fired missiles at Kiev

KYIV, June 5 (Reuters) – Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers fired missiles into the Kiev from the Caspian Sea early Sunday morning, causing two explosions in the eastern districts of the Ukrainian capital, the Ukrainian Air Force and city mayor said.

Although no deaths were reported immediately, at least one person was admitted to hospital, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said. Dark smoke billowed into the sky above the Dornitsky and Dniprovsky districts where the explosions took place.

Sergei Leshchenko, an aide to President Volodymyr Zhelensky’s chief of staff, said the attack targeted railway infrastructure.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has said that T-72 tanks and armored vehicles supplied to Ukraine by Eastern European countries and stored in a train box repair building were fired at Kiev from a long distance and destroyed by armored vehicles.

The Ukrainian Air Force has identified an incoming missile and destroyed a cruise missile at 6 a.m. local time, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

These were the first missiles to hit the capital in late April after a Radio Liberty maker was killed in a Russian missile attack on the building where he lived. read more

“According to preliminary data, (the Russians) launched missiles from a Tu-95 aircraft from the Caspian Sea,” the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement.

Mikhail Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, called on the West to impose further sanctions on Russia, punish the attacks and provide more arms to Ukraine.

“The Kremlin is seeking new insidious attacks. Today missile strikes in Kiev have only one goal – to kill as many as possible,” he wrote.

The mayor of the historic city of Provery, about 20 km (12 miles) from the center of Kiev, urged people to stay indoors after receiving complaints about the smell of smoke leaking out.

Despite continued Russian invasions and widespread destruction in Ukraine, life in Kiev has been relatively offensive in recent weeks, with Moscow turning its center of invasion east and south.

Air strike sirens will continue to disrupt life in Kiev, but there have been no major strikes on the city for several weeks.

The Dornitsky district on the left bank of the Dniebro River stretches from the suburbs of Kiev to the river bank, and the Dnifrovsky region north of the city is located across the river.

Oleksandr Honsarenko, mayor of the village of Gramadorsk in the eastern Donetsk region, declared an overnight strike on the city, causing widespread damage, but no casualties.

On Saturday, Ukrainian officials said troops in the country had recaptured part of the city of Sverdlovsk in a counterattack against Russia. read more

Written by Lydia Kelly and Tom Palmford; Editing: William Mallard and Mark Heinrich

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.