Ukraine war: Children die in new missile attack on Kyiv

Two children and an adult died, and more than a dozen people were injured, in a new night-time missile attack on Kyiv, Ukrainian officials say.

Russia has been subjecting the Ukrainian capital to regular aerial attack with missiles and drones.

The latest attacks occurred in the eastern Desnyanskyi and Dniprovskyi districts.

Ukrainian officials said details of the dead and injured were based on preliminary information.

One of the children killed was between 5 and 6 years old, while the other was 12 or 13, the Kyiv city military administration wrote on Telegram. Both were in Desnyanskyi district.

The attack was the fourth this week, and comes after 17 attacks were launched on the Ukrainian capital throughout May – most took place at night, although at least one occurred during the day.

Images shared by military authorities showed teams of rescuers attending to people, as well as damaged buildings.

In a number of early morning posts on Telegram, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a “series of explosions” had taken place in the city, and that rescuers had been dealing with fallen debris and fires.

He said 14 people had been injured – nine of whom were taken to hospital.

Meanwhile, Russian-backed officials in the occupied part of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region said five people had been killed and 19 injured by Ukrainian shelling at a poultry farm on Wednesday.

In recent weeks, Russia – which launched its full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022 – has been using kamikaze drones as well as a range of cruise and ballistic missiles to attack targets in Ukraine.

Kyiv has been heavily targeted, and analysts believe Moscow is trying to deplete and damage Ukraine’s air defences ahead of a long-expected counter-offensive, which the Ukrainian government has been planning for months.