Four killed in the Russian drone and missile attack on Kiev of Ukraine | Russia-Ukraine war news

The dawn raid in the occupied Shevchenkivskyi district also damaged the water pipeline and forced the closure of the metro station.

At least four people have been killed in a Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital.

Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said the attack at dawn on Saturday took place in the Shevchenkivskyi district, located centrally in the city.

“Stay in shelters,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on Telegram on Saturday morning. He had warned of a “ballistic missile threat” against the capital hours earlier and said air defenses were operating around the city.

Windows were broken in the Shevchenkivskyi district, including those at the entrance to the Lukianivska metro station, which was closed, according to the mayor.

The Shevchenkivskyi area is a busy part of Kiev with universities, bars and restaurants.

Also on Saturday, Russian forces “attacked the center” of Zaporizhzhia, injuring two people, according to local governor Ivan Fedorov. An administrative building of an industrial plant was partially damaged, he said.

Reporting from Kiev, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said the explosions were heard around 6am (04:00 GMT), “reverberating amid a flurry of anti-aircraft fire, with aerial alerts suggesting both threats of ballistic missiles and drones”.

He said smoke was seen coming from a residential building.

Later that morning, the Ukrainian Air Force said it had destroyed 24 drones and two ballistic missiles that were launched in the same attack.

Ukrainian counterattacks

The rare strike in the heart of the Ukrainian capital comes amid intensified Ukrainian airstrikes on Russian energy and military facilities in recent months.

Ukraine’s military has recently hit several Russian oil depots, including two major attacks at a facility near a military airfield in Russia’s Saratov region that caused days-long fires.

Late Friday, a Ukrainian drone attack on Lyudinovo in Russia’s Kaluga region sparked a fire at an industrial site, according to regional governor Vladislav Shapsha.

Video posted on unofficial Russian social media sites showed fire engines speeding in the direction of a large fire at what they said was an oil storage depot in the city. No casualties were reported.