Ukrainian officials report missile attacks on Kyiv, Kharkiv

Ukrainian officials are reporting missile attacks that hit Kyiv and Kharkiv in the early morning hours on Saturday, damaging several buildings. 

Oleksiy Kuleba, the leader of the Kyiv regional military administration, said in a Telegram post that explosions were heard just past 6 a.m. in the region and that a fire started at a critical infrastructure facility. He later posted that the roofs and windows of 18 private homes were damaged but said no one was hurt. 

Officials warned civilians to stay inside as an air alert continued. 

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported in a Telegram post that the fire broke out at a nonresidential facility in the city’s Holosiiv district but was extinguished. He also reported explosions in the city’s Dnipro district. 

Both officials said appropriate response teams were on the scene of the areas that were damaged. 

The Kyiv City Military Administration said the fire happened in a metal warehouse building with an area of 20 square meters and that its garage roof was damaged. 

It warned civilians in a Telegram post to stay in their homes until an air raid alarm went off. It said rocket fragments damaged two cars in the Darnytskyi district. 

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian minister of internal affairs, tweeted that the strike probably came from ballistic missiles traveling from the north. He said these missiles are undetectable and Ukraine cannot take them down. 

Oleg Sinegubov, Kharkiv’s regional governor, posted that two S-300 missiles, a type of surface-to-air missile, hit the city’s industrial district, targeting critical infrastructure and industrial facilities. He said emergency power outages were possible in the city, which is located in northeastern Ukraine.

Officials also reported explosions in Zaporizhzhia, with City Council Secretary Anatoly Kurtev saying that Russia was shelling the areas where Ukrainian soldiers were positioned in two populated districts.

The strikes hit as Russia is coming off its first major win of the war in months, taking control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar. The Russian defense ministry said Soledar’s capture will help Russian forces block Ukrainian supply routes. 

Russia has struggled to make gains for months after Ukraine launched a counteroffensive to retake thousands of square kilometers of territory.