Three people were killed and at least 11 others were injured in missile attacks targeting Kyiv early Thursday. Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA-EFE
June 1 (UPI) — Early morning ballistic missile attacks by Russian forces on Kyiv on Thursday killed three people, including a mother and her 11-year-old daughter, and injured at least 11 others, Ukrainian authorities said.
City air defense systems shot down all 10 Iskander short-range missiles targeted at the eastern Desnyanskyi and Dniprovskyi districts with the deaths and injuries caused by falling debris from the interceptions.
Three schools, a kindergarten, six houses and a police station were damaged in the Desnyan district with nine of the injured hospitalized, one of them in serious condition, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a Telegram post.
Also damaged was a children’s outpatient clinic which the deceased were reportedly trying to get to when they were killed. An investigation was underway into reports the victims were unable to get into the clinic’s air raid shelter because it was locked, according to Klitschko.
He said the prosecutor’s office, the Security Service and the National Police were investigating whether the shelter in the clinic in the Desnyan district was closed or not, adding that the truth may never be known because the doors had been blown out in the explosion that damaged the building.
However, Klitschko said he had ordered patrolling police to monitor the night-time operation of all shelters.
“During the curfew, they will go around the shelters on the city map and check whether they are open. But they will promptly pass on the information to the city services,” he said.
In each district of the city, the heads of the institutions where the shelters are located and the heads of the districts are responsible for the operation of the shelters, according to Klitschko.
The attacks came as many countries of the former Soviet bloc marked their International Children’s Day.
Klitschko later announced that festivities marking children’s day in the city had been canceled.