Russian air strikes repelled over Kyiv, but hit regional airfield
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A building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike on the outskirts of Dnipro city, Ukraine, on June 3.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
KYIV - Russia launched a wave of air attacks on Ukraine early on Sunday, striking an airfield in a central region but failing to hit the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said.
Air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told local television that four of six cruise missiles were shot down by air defences but two struck an “operational airfield” near the central city of Kropyvnytskyi.
He added that two of the five Iranian-made drones launched by Russia struck infrastructure in the northern Sumy region.
Separately, a two-year-old girl was killed and 22 people were wounded in an earlier Russian missile strike on Sunday near the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional governor said.
Russia has repeatedly attacked Kyiv since May, chiefly at night, ahead of a long-expected Ukrainian counteroffensive to reclaim territory, in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to inflict psychological distress on civilians.
“For the second night in a row, Kyivans are not hearing the sounds of explosions overhead,” said Mr Serhiy Popko, head of the local military administration, on Telegram.
Reuters witnesses reported hearing several blasts in the Kyiv region, but not in the city, from what sounded like air defence systems hitting targets.
All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts for nearly three hours.
There were unverified Ukrainian social media reports of blasts heard in Kryvyi Rih in southern Ukraine, near the central city of Kropyvnitskyi and in the north-eastern region of Sumy.
There was no immediate official information about the reports. REUTERS
