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Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s Kyiv, killing three

01.06.2023 11:30
Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with a wave of ballistic missiles overnight into Thursday, killing three people including a child, officials have said. 
Ukrainian rescuers working at a health centre where debris of a rocket fell after a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, June 1, 2023.
Ukrainian rescuers working at a health centre where debris of a rocket fell after a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, June 1, 2023.PAP/EPA/Kyiv City Military Administration / HANDOUT

The air raid was carried out using Iskander missiles, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

Kyiv police said in a statement: "A 33-year-old woman and a 34-year-old mother with her 11-year-old daughter died as a result of the shelling by the occupiers of a medical facility in the Desnianskyi district,” as quoted by the Ukrainska Pravda website.

Twelve other people, including a child, were injured, according to Ukraine’s interior ministry. 

In all, Russia launched seven Iskander-M ballistic missiles and three Iskander-K cruise missiles over Ukraine early on Thursday morning, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. 

Ukraine’s air defence shot down all of these missiles, the PAP news agency reported, citing the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Falling debris damaged buildings and parked cars in several districts of Kyiv in the early hours of the day, according to news outlets. 

Kyiv cancels Children’s Day events after Russian missile attack 

All events planned for Thursday to mark International Children’s Day have been called off in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

"All events in the districts of the city planned for Children's Day have been cancelled," the mayor wrote on the Telegram messaging app, as quoted by Ukraine’s Interfax news agency. 

Around 9:30 a.m. CET on Thursday, another air alert was declared in several regions of Ukraine, including Kyiv, where it turned out to be brief and ended before 10 a.m. CET, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet: "The international day for protection of children. Russia killed a nine-year-old girl, her mother, and another woman in a missile attack on Kyiv."

He added: "Those who have children, imagine what it means to lose a child. Russian terrorism must be defeated. Ukraine can do it with sufficient support."

Ukraine’s Zelensky, EU, UK, Turkey leaders meet in Moldova

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday morning arrived in Moldova for a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), Interfax reported.

Initially conceived by French President Emmanuel Macron as a platform for unity across Europe, the EPC summit was due to bring together the leaders of the 27 European Union member states, including Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, as well as 19 other countries, including the UK, Ukraine, Turkey, and Moldova’s Balkan neighbours, The Guardian reported. 

The Ukrainian president was one of the first guests to arrive at Mimi Castle in eastern Moldova, where he was greeted by the country’s head of state Maia Sandu, according to Interfax.

Zelensky wrote on Telegram: "Today we are working in Moldova. Participation in the summit of the European Political Community. There are many bilateral meetings. We are developing a coalition of fighters and offering a coalition of Patriots. The EU, NATO, the Peace Formula. Everything to protect our future."

Thursday is day 463 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

(pm/gs) 

Source: PAP, Ukrainska Pravda, Interfax-Ukraine, The Guardian