Russia fired ballistic missiles and attack drones at the Ukrainian capital overnight, city officials said Friday morning, killing at least four people after President Vladimir Putin vowed to retaliate for Ukraine's stunning drone attacks on Russian airbases last week.
Besides Kyiv, the barrage also targeted regions in the western part of the country, like Lviv and Volyn, which border EU and NATO member Poland.
At least four people were killed and 20 wounded in the capital, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on social media. AFP journalists heard explosions and air raid sirens echo out over the capital throughout the night.
"Kyiv came under another attack involving drones and ballistic missiles. Rescuers are responding to the aftermath at several locations across the city," the State Emergency Service of Ukraine wrote on Telegram.
AFP reporters saw a charred crater in the side of a high-rise residential block in Kyiv, with debris and broken glass strewn across the parking lot in front of the building.
One image published by the head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's office showed a children's playground scattered with rubble and shards of glass.
Multiple fires broke out in various districts of Kyiv, and the attack also damaged train tracks in the surrounding Kyiv region, leading to lengthy delays, the national railway operator said.
Three of those killed were first responders from the state emergency service, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko
said.
"They worked under fire to help people. Another nine rescuers were wounded. Some of them are seriously injured, and doctors are fighting for their lives," he wrote on social media.
Several strikes also hit western Ukraine's city of Lutsk and the Ternopil region.
"Today, the enemy carried out the most massive air attack on our region to date. There are multiple strikes," Ternopil's regional military administration chief Vyacheslav Negoda said.
At least 32 people were wounded in four different regions, including 15 in Lutsk, officials said.
Meanwhile, in Russia, authorities said that Ukrainian strikes overnight wounded three people in the western Tula region.
Russia's Defense Ministry said it downed 174 Ukrainian drones between late Thursday and early Friday. Officials in Moscow said 10 drones targeted the Russian capital.
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