Thick smoke from fire rises over downtown Kyiv after a Russian missile attack in retaliation for the Crimean bridge destruction (Picture: Panama/Alamy Live News).
Thick smoke from fire rises over downtown Kyiv after a Russian missile attack on 10 October in retaliation for the Crimean bridge destruction (Picture: Panama/Alamy Live News).
Ukraine

Central Kyiv rocked by more explosions as Russia continues strikes across Ukraine

Thick smoke from fire rises over downtown Kyiv after a Russian missile attack in retaliation for the Crimean bridge destruction (Picture: Panama/Alamy Live News).
Thick smoke from fire rises over downtown Kyiv after a Russian missile attack on 10 October in retaliation for the Crimean bridge destruction (Picture: Panama/Alamy Live News).

Several loud explosions have rocked the centre of the Ukrainian capital, a week after Russia carried out a massive, co-ordinated air strike across the country.

Kyiv city mayor Vitaliy Klichko said the central Shevchenko district of the capital had been hit and urged residents to take shelter. No further details were immediately known.

The explosions came from the same central district where, a week ago, a missile struck a children's playground and intersection near the Kyiv National University's main buildings.

Social media posts showed a fire in the area of the apparent strike, with black smoke rising into the early morning light.

Russian forces struck Kyiv with Iranian Shahed drones, Andrii Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian President's office wrote in a post on the Telegram social media site.

Russia has repeatedly been using the so-called suicide drones in recent weeks to target urban centres and infrastructure, including power stations.

The strike on Kyiv comes as fighting has intensified in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in recent days, as well as the continued Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south near Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on Sunday night that there was heavy fighting around the cities of Bakhmut and Soledar in the Donetsk region.

The Donetsk and Luhansk regions make up the bulk of the industrial east known as the Donbas, and were two of four regions annexed by Russia in September.

On Sunday, the Russian-backed regime in the Donetsk region said Ukraine had shelled its central administrative building in a direct hit. No casualties were reported.

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