“No attacks were carried out in Kiev. All the damage caused to the city by the Kiev regime was the result of the fall of foreign and Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles installed in residential areas of the Ukrainian capital,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
On Wednesday, Ukraine accused Moscow of firing missiles into Kiev, killing three people, wounding six and damaging infrastructure.
Local authorities in several regions of Ukraine reported multiple attacks, suggesting a coordinated wave of Russian forces, which mainly targeted critical infrastructure, such as energy, but also residential buildings.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said that “one of the capital’s infrastructure facilities was affected” and that there were “several other explosions in different districts” of the city, which also disrupted water supplies.
Power was cut off in various parts of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv and the southern part of Odessa.
The attack came hours after Ukrainian authorities said a rocket had been fired overnight, destroying a maternity ward at a hospital in southern Ukraine and killing a two-day-old baby.
The situation was even worse in the (southern) city of Kherson – which Russia withdrew almost two weeks ago after months of occupation – where electricity and water lines were cut off.
Many doctors in the city had to work without light, unable to use elevators to transport patients to surgery and operated with headlights, cell phone lights and flashlights.
According to Ukrainian operator Energoatom, the attacks forced the disconnection of three Ukrainian nuclear power plants from the power grid – although they have already started working again – causing severe power outages.
Russia has been attacking the power grid and other essential facilities on Ukrainian soil for weeks with missiles and ‘drones’ (unmanned aerial vehicles).
The war in Ukraine, triggered by a Russian military offensive that began on February 24, has plunged Europe into its worst security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
According to the UN, the conflict created more than six million internally displaced people (those who were forced to leave their usual place of residence but remained in the country).
It resulted in more than 7.8 million refugees, mostly in European countries.
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