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Firefighters work on the site of a damaged building after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv Efrem Lukatsky/AP

Russian attack in Ukraine capital kills three people

Kyiv is frequently targeted by Russian drones and missiles but deaths are rare in the capital.

LAST UPDATE | 18 Jan

A RUSSIAN MISSILE strike on the Ukrainian capital killed three people today.

Ukrainian leaders branding it a “heinous” attack, while Moscow called it “retaliation” for bombardments on its territory.

Russia frequently targets Kyiv with aerial attacks, but deadly strikes there are rare, as the capital is heavily protected by air defences and better able to fend off attacks than elsewhere in the country.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the world to up its pressure on the Kremlin to force it to end the nearly three-year invasion.

Russia’s defence ministry said the strike had hit a rocket-maker based in the Ukrainian capital.

“The Russian armed forces carried out a group strike with precision-guided weapons against Ukrainian military-industrial facilities, including the Luch Design Bureau that develops and manufactures long-range guided missiles,” the Russian defence ministry said.

It called the attack “retaliation” for Ukraine’s use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles in strikes on Russian territory.

ukraine 1 Emergency personnel following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv Efrem Lukatsky / AP Efrem Lukatsky / AP / AP

At least three people were killed and three wounded, Zelenskyy said, revising down an earlier toll of four.

“Everyone who is helping the Russian state in this war must be put under such pressure that it is felt no less than these strikes. We can only do this in unity with the whole world,” Zelensky said on social media.

City officials said the victims were two men, aged 43 and 25, and a 41-year-old woman.

AFP journalists in Kyiv saw a multi-storey building with windows blown out, debris strewn across the street, flooding, and the charred facade of a damaged McDonald’s outlet.

Overnight, air raid sirens and the sounds of Ukrainian air defence systems had rung out across the capital.

‘Heinous Russian attack’

Calling it a “heinous Russian ballistic attack,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said it was “yet another proof that Putin wants war, not peace”.

The Russian president “must be forced to accept a just peace through strength – maximum economic and military pressure,” he added.

Ukraine’s air force said it had downed two Iskander ballistic missiles as well as 24 Russian attack drones overnight.

It said the downed missiles “fell” on Kyiv’s central Shevchenkivsky district, damaging an industrial building, a subway to the metro and residential buildings, and temporarily knocking out local water supplies.

Ten people were also wounded in a Russian strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, officials said.

Governor Ivan Fedorov called it a “cynical” attack on the centre of the city “while everyone was sleeping”.

The rare deadly strike on Kyiv comes at a critical juncture in the conflict.

Both sides have been seeking to secure the upper hand in the conflict ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

Russia on Saturday claimed its forces had captured two villages – Vremivka and Petropavlivka – in the eastern Donetsk region, where its troops have been grinding forwards for months.

Ukraine has launched a wave of strikes against Russian energy and military facilities, including sites hundreds of kilometres behind the front lines.

Its GUR military intelligence unit said Ukrainian drones had hit an oil depot in Russia’s Tula region in the early hours of Saturday.

The Russian governor of the region had earlier reported a fuel tank fire at an industrial site in the region after a Ukrainian drone attack.

In the neighbouring Kaluga region, officials also reported a fire at an industrial site, reported to be another oil depot, after a Ukrainian drone attack.

Ukraine buffer zone

Meanwhile, Germany’s defence minister has said he is open to sending German soldiers to Ukraine to help secure a demilitarised zone there if a ceasefire were agreed with Russia, in remarks published today.

In an interview with the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Boris Pistorius also said Germany should aim to spend around 3% of GDP on defence.

US President-elect Donald Trump wants members of the NATO military alliance to devote 5% of their national output on defence, a demand that has already been rejected as too high by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Asked about a possible deployment of German troops to help secure a buffer zone between Russia and Ukraine if one were agreed, Pistorius said: “We’re the largest NATO partner in Europe. We’ll obviously have a role to play.”

He said the issue would “be discussed in due time”.

Trump said during his election campaign he could end the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in fewer than 24 hours. His camp has since indicated that he needs more time.

Discussions could nevertheless start soon, notably with a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But Ukraine is not currently in a position of sufficient strength to start any peace negotiations with Russia, NATO secretary general Mark Rutte said on Monday.

Pistorius said Russia was currently occupying “18 or 19% of Ukrainian territory”.

But despite nearly three years of war, it had “not gained more” than that and had suffered “extensive losses in its own army” in the attempt.

The United States claimed recently that Moscow had lost nearly 1,500 men a day in November.

Asked about the contribution Germany should make towards NATO defence spending, Pistorius said: “We should be talking more about three percent than two.”

Germany currently devotes around two percent of its GDP to defence.

On 9 January, Chancellor Olaf Scholz rebuffed Trump’s demand for NATO members to raise defence spending to five percent of GDP.

For Germany, that would mean finding an additional €150 billion every year, he said.

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