KYIV - A nine-year-old girl, her mother and another woman were killed during a Russian missile strike on Kyiv on Thursday after the air raid shelter they rushed to failed to open, witnesses said.
Ukraine’s air force said air defences shot down all 10 ballistic and Iskander cruise missiles launched from Russia in the 18th attack on the capital since the start of May.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said three school buildings, a kindergarten, six residential buildings and a police station were damaged.
He did not say what the main targets of the attack were, but the Energy Ministry said no energy facilities were hit.
Police opened a criminal investigation into the events near a medical clinic in the Desnyanskyi district.
“Three people, one of them a child, died near the clinic last night,” Mr Klitschko said. “A rocket fragment fell near the entrance to the clinic four minutes after the air alert was announced. And people headed for the shelter.”
Local residents said people were unable to enter the shelter because it was closed.
“The air alert sounded. My wife took our daughter, and they ran to the entrance here,” local resident Yaroslav Ryabchuk told Reuters in the Desnyanskyi district.
“The entrance was closed, there were already maybe five to 10 women with children. No one opened up for them. They knocked loudly enough,” he said.
“They tried to enter the shelter, no one opened up for them. My wife died.”
The case caused a public outcry and prompted calls for residents to check shelters and report any safety violations. Local media said prosecutors later searched city administration offices as part of the investigation into the deaths.
Russia has denied targeting civilians or committing war crimes, but its forces have caused devastation in Ukrainian cities and repeatedly hit residential areas since its full-scale invasion on Feb 24, 2022.
According to the United Nations’ Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, at least 525 children have been killed and at least 1,047 have been injured in the last 15 months.
Russia has intensified missile and drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital as Kyiv prepares to launch a counteroffensive. Russia says Ukrainian shelling of border areas has increased in recent weeks as Kyiv prepares its counter-attack. REUTERS
