Russian Long-range Missile Hits Apartment And Near Kindergarten Location In Kyiv, President Zelensky Urges Modern Air Defense Supplies

(Wikimedia Commons/sns.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Russian missiles hit an apartment block and close to a kindergarten in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Sunday, an attack US President Joe Biden condemned as "barbarism" as Group 7 (G7) leaders gathered in Europe.

At least four explosions rocked central Kyiv in the early hours of the morning, in the first attack on the city in weeks.

"Russia attacked Kyiv again. Missiles damaged apartment buildings and a kindergarten," said Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential administration.

A Reuters photographer saw a large explosion crater near a kindergarten playground that had shattered windows.

Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor Mykola Povoroznyk said one person was killed and six injured. He said explosions were heard later in other parts if Kyiv was an air defense destroying further incoming missiles.

Life has returned to normal in Kyiv after fierce resistance stifled Russian advances in the early phase of the war, although air raid sirens regularly sounded throughout the city. There have been no major attacks in Kyiv since early June.

In his evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said an injured seven-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble of a nine-story apartment block. The girl's father died in the attack, he said.

"He is not threatened by anything in our country. He is completely safe, until Russia itself decides that everyone is equally hostile to them now, women, children, kindergartens, houses, hospitals, trains," said President Zelensky.

The impact of the Russian attack on Ukrainian territory. (Wikimedia Commons/kh.dsns.gov.ua)

He added that Ukrainian defenses had only managed to shoot down some of the 62 missiles Russia fired in the previous 24 hours and reiterated Kyiv's request for partners to supply modern air defense systems.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian air force said the attack was carried out with 4-6 long-range missiles fired from Russian bombers more than 1.000 kilometers away in the Astrakhan region of southern Russia.

Russian missiles also hit the central city of Cherkasy, which until now was largely untouched by the bombing, according to regional authorities, which said one person was killed and five others injured. Read more

Ukraine's presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said the attack also hit a strategic bridge linking western Ukraine and eastern battlefields.

"They are trying to limit our deliveries of Western reserves and weapons to the east," he said in a message to Reuters.

Russia's defense ministry said it had used high-precision weapons to attack Ukrainian army training centers in the Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, and Lviv regions, an apparent reference to the attacks reported by Ukraine on Saturday. There was no immediate comment on Sunday's attacks in Kyiv or Cherkasy.

Russia has stepped up air strikes in Ukraine this weekend, which has also seen the fall of a strategic eastern city to pro-Russian forces.

"It's more of their barbarism," Biden said, referring to the missile attack in Kyiv, as leaders from the G7 rich nations gathered for a summit in Germany.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the G7 countries should respond to the latest missile attack by imposing further sanctions on Russia and providing more heavy weapons to Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the West needed to maintain a united front against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The price of retreating, the price of letting Putin succeed, hacking into large parts of Ukraine, continuing his conquest program, the price will be much, much higher," he told reporters.

Russia denies targeting civilians, but Ukraine and the West accuse Russian forces of war crimes in a conflict that has killed thousands, forced millions to flee Ukraine and destroyed cities.