Ukraine says 53, including 6 children, hurt in Russian missile strikes
on Kyiv
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[December 13, 2023]
By Sergiy Karazy and Valentyn Ogirenko
KYIV (Reuters) -Russia's second missile assault on Kyiv this week
injured at least 53 people, damaging homes and a children's hospital,
Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
pleaded for more help for his country.
The windows of residential apartment blocks were blown out and
frightened residents streamed out onto the street to assess the damage.
Missile debris blew a large crater in the ground and destroyed parked
cars.
Ukraine's air defense systems downed all 10 ballistic missiles that
targeted the capital at about 3 a.m. (0100 GMT), Ukraine's Air Force
said on the Telegram app.
"Just yesterday, (U.S.) President (Joe) Biden and I agreed to work on
increasing the number of air defense systems in Ukraine. The terrorist
state demonstrated how important this decision is," Zelenskiy wrote on
Telegram, referring to Russia.
Falling debris caused injuries and destruction in four of Kyiv's
districts along the Dnipro River, which cuts through the capital,
officials said. Thirty-five buildings were damaged, according to the
city's military administration.
Ukraine's national police said 53 people, including six children, had
been injured by the attack. Eighteen people have been hospitalized, it
said in a social media post.
"There was no air raid siren. At around 4 a.m. (0200 GMT), I heard an
explosion. We fled to the corridor, (the explosion wave) threw me into
the doors," Olena Ustinova, 45, a local administration clerk, told
Reuters.
"I regained consciousness and started to shake the doors but they were
blocked. I shouted for help from my balcony and emergency workers came
to help me."
Ukraine's Armed Forces General Staff identified the projectiles as
Iskander-M ballistic missiles, as well as S-400s: extremely fast
missiles intended for air defense, but which have also been used to hit
ground targets.
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A view shows a kindergarten damaged during a Russian missile strike,
amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 13, 2023.
REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi
AIR DEFENSES
Zelenskiy, who was visiting Norway on Wednesday, said his main
priority was to strengthen air defenses.
His chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, praised Western-supplied air
defense systems and their operators after Ukraine downed all 10.
"The effectiveness of Western weapons in the hands of Ukrainian
soldiers cannot be doubted," Yermak said.
The Air Force said it also shot down all 10 Russian-launched attack
drones over the Odesa region in southern Ukraine.
Windows and entrances at a children's hospital in Kyiv's Dniprovskyi
district were shattered by debris, but based on initial assessments,
there were no casualties, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
"These (ballistic) missiles fly at a speed up to 8,000 km per hour,"
Klitschko told Reuters while visiting a site near one of the damaged
buildings.
Kyiv military administration chief Serhiy Popko said 17 people,
including seven children, were evacuated from a residential building
in the Dniprovskyi district after debris hit a building and nearby
cars, causing a fire.
The attack followed a salvo of ballistic missiles that targeted Kyiv
on Monday and injured four people.
There was no comment from Russia about Wednesday's attack, which
also damaged buildings in Kyiv's Desnyanskyi, Darnitskyi and
Holosiivskyi districts.
Both Moscow and Kyiv deny targeting civilians in the nearly
22-month-long war that Russia launched against its neighbor in
February 2022.
(Additional reporting by Anna Voitenko, Max Hunder and Olena Harmash;
Editing by Gareth Jones)
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