KYIV: A series of explosions rocked Kyiv on Saturday morning and minutes later air raid sirens started to wail as an apparent missile attack on the Ukrainian capital was underway.
Deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram that critical infrastructure in Kyiv was targeted.
Kyiv’s city military administration said that an unidentified object of infrastructure was hit in the city and emergency services were operating at the site of the strike.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that explosions were heard in the Dniprovskyi district of the city and that fragments of a missile fell on a non-residential area in the Holosiivskyi district. No casualties have been reported so far.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether several facilities in Kyiv were targeted or just the one that was reported hit. The Ukrainian capital hasn’t been attacked with missiles since New Year’s night.
In the outlying Kyiv region, a residential building in the village of Kopyliv was hit, and windows of the houses nearby were blown out, Tymoshenko said.
Earlier on Saturday, two Russian missiles hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, the governor of the Kharkiv region reported.
Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces fired two S-300 missiles at the industrial district of Kharkiv. The extent of the damage from the strike wasn’t immediately clear, but no casualties have been reported.
Ukrainian officials report Russian missile attack on Kyiv
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Ukrainian officials report Russian missile attack on Kyiv
- Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that “explosions were heard in Dniprovskyi district, left bank of Kyiv”
Most of Iranian women’s soccer team leave Australia
GOLD COAST: The Iranian women’s soccer team left Australia without seven squad members after tearful protests of their departure outside Sydney Airport and frantic final efforts inside the terminal by Australian officials, who sought to ensure the women understood they were being offered asylum.
As the team’s flight time drew nearer and they passed through security late on Tuesday, each woman was taken aside to meet alone with officials who explained through interpreters that they could choose not to return to Iran.
Before the team traveled to the airport, seven women had accepted humanitarian visas allowing them to remain permanently in Australia and were ushered to a safe location by Australian police officers.
One has since changed her mind, underscoring the tense and precarious nature of their decisions.
“In Australia, people are able to change their mind,” said Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who had hours earlier posted photos of the seven women granted humanitarian visas to his social media accounts, their identities clearly visible.
After what Burke described as “emotional” meetings between the remaining women who reached the airport and Australian officials, the rest of the team declined offers of asylum and boarded their flight.
It was a dramatic conclusion to an episode that had gripped Australia since the Iranian team’s first game at the Asian Cup soccer tournament, when they remained silent during their national anthem.
