KYIV: Ukrainian officials blamed Russia Tuesday for a missile attack on the capital Kyiv, saying residential buildings were hit as air raid sirens sounded across the country.
“There is an attack on the capital. According to preliminary information, two residential buildings were hit in the Pechersk district,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a statement on social media.
“Several missiles were shot down over Kyiv by air defense systems. Medics and rescuers are at the scene of the strikes. More details later,” he added.
The deputy head of the president’s office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said in a statement online that the missiles had been fired by Russian forces.
He distributed footage of the apparent scene of the attacks, with a blaze emerging from a Soviet-era, five-story residential building.
“The danger has not passed. Stay in shelters,” he added.
The Ukraine presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said the attack was a response to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to the G20, during which he called on leaders to pressure the Kremlin to end its invasion.
“Does anyone seriously think that the Kremlin really wants peace? It wants obedience. But at the end of the day, terrorists always lose,” Yermak said.
Russian forces have in recent weeks been targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine and has launched barrages of missiles and sent swarms of drones on the capital.
Kyiv was last targeted by Russian forces nearly one month ago on October 17.
Ukraine blames Russia for missile attack on Kyiv housing blocks
https://arab.news/wmeud
Ukraine blames Russia for missile attack on Kyiv housing blocks
- Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said: “Several missiles were shot down over Kyiv by air defence systems”
- The attack was a response to President Volodymyr Zelensky's address to the G20
Campaigning starts in CAR election
- Both of Touadera’s top critics on the ballot paper, ex-Prime Minister Henri-Marie Dondra and the main opposition leader Anicet-Georges Dologuele, had feared they would be barred from the election over nationality requirements
BANGUI: Campaigning has kicked off in the Central African Republic, with the unstable former French colony’s voters set to cast their ballots in a quadruple whammy of elections on Dec. 28.
Besides national, regional and municipal lawmakers, Centrafri-cains are set to pick their president, with incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadera in pole position out of a seven-strong field after modifying the constitution to allow him to seek a third term.
Thousands of supporters packed into a 20,000-seater stadium in the capital Bangui on Saturday to listen to Touadera, accused by the opposition of wishing to cling on as president-for-life in one of the world’s poorest countries.
In his speech, Touadera, who was first elected in 2016 in the middle of a bloody civil war, styled himself as a defender of the country’s young people and insisted there was work to do to curb ongoing unrest.
“The fight for peace and security is not over,” the president warned the packed stands.
“We must continue to strengthen our army in order to guarantee security throughout the national territory and preserve the unity of our country.”
Both of Touadera’s top critics on the ballot paper, ex-Prime Minister Henri-Marie Dondra and the main opposition leader Anicet-Georges Dologuele, had feared they would be barred from the election over nationality requirements.
Touring the capital’s districts alongside a traveling convoy, Dologuele warned that the upcoming vote represents “a choice for national survival; a choice between resignation and hope.”
“Our people have experienced 10 years of this regime. Ten years of waiting, promises and suffering,” he added.
