Moscow bombards Kyiv; Ukraine hits Russian border town

In deadly attacks, Moscow bombards Kyiv, Ukraine strikes Russian border town

People are packed wall to wall in a metro station during an air raid alarm in Kyiv.

By Illia Novikov

Dec. 20, 2024 Updated 12:40 PM PT

KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian ballistic missile attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killed at least one person and wounded 13 others, officials said. A Ukrainian attack on a town in Russia’s Kursk border region using U.S.-supplied missiles killed six people, including a child, a local official said.

Ten other people in the Kursk town of Rylsk, including a 13-year-old, were hospitalized after Friday’s strike with HIMARS missiles, Kursk acting Gov. Alexander Khinshtein said. He provided no further details.

Russia is trying to push back a Ukrainian incursion into Kursk that was launched in early August, but Ukraine’s troops are dug in.

President Biden last month authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missiles to strike deeper inside Russia, easing limitations on the longer-range weapons. The move was a response to Russia deploying thousands of North Korean troops to reinforce its war effort, officials said.

In Kyiv, at least three loud blasts were heard shortly before sunrise. Ukraine’s air force said that it intercepted five Iskander short-range ballistic missiles fired at the city. The attack knocked out heating to 630 residential buildings, 16 medical facilities and 30 schools and kindergartens, the city administration said. Falling missile debris caused damage and sparked fires in three districts.

“We ask citizens to immediately respond to reports of ballistic attack threats, because there is very little time to find shelter,” the air force said.

During the almost three years since Moscow’s full invasion of Ukraine began, Russia has regularly bombarded civilian areas, often in an attempt to cripple the power grid and unnerve Ukrainians. Ukraine, struggling to hold back Russia’s bigger army on the front line, has attempted to strike Russian infrastructure supporting the country’s war effort.

The falling debris in Kyiv smashed into the city center, causing damage to about two dozen high-rise office buildings as well as the Catholic Church of St. Nicholas, a city landmark, and the Kyiv National Linguistic University.

What may have been the blast wave from an intercepted low-flying missile also blew out windows or caused other damage at six embassies, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

About five hours later, air raid sirens rang out again. Valeriia Dubova, a 32-year-old photographer, took cover with many others in a crowded subway station.

She said that in the morning attack, she sheltered at home and could feel the walls shaking from the blasts. Outside, fire engines and ambulances raced down city streets, she said.

“With the naked eye you could see that many buildings, high-rises, were damaged, with glass shards on the ground, far from the explosion epicenter,” she said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the strike was in response to a Ukrainian missile attack on Russia’s Rostov border region two days earlier. That attack used six American-made Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, missiles and four Storm Shadow air-launched missiles provided by the United Kingdom, it said.

That day, Ukraine claimed to have targeted a Rostov oil refinery as part of its campaign to strike Russian infrastructure supporting the country’s war effort.

The use of Western-supplied weapons to strike Russia has angered the Kremlin. Ukraine fired several American-supplied longer-range missiles into Russia for the first time on Nov. 19 after Washington eased restrictions on their use.

That development prompted Russia to use a new hypersonic missile, called Oreshnik, for the first time.

Novikov writes for the Associated Press.