KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces launched barrages of drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities on Thursday, after all sides blamed the opposite for explosions at the Kremlin that raised fears of an escalation within the conflict.
A dozen or so loud explosions and the sound of antiaircraft gunfire rattled the capital, Kyiv, after dusk on Thursday, the second consecutive evening the capital was focused after Russia accused Ukraine of launching a drone assault in central Moscow, an accusation Ukraine has strongly denied.
Not less than two drones had been noticed over Kyiv, and video shared on-line confirmed one being shot down, prompting cheers from watchers under within the Maidan, Kyiv’s central sq.. Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, confirmed in a press release {that a} drone had been shot down.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, mentioned falling particles prompted a small hearth close to a railroad station, but it surely had been contained. There was no fast details about attainable casualties.
Whereas Kyiv has come underneath frequent and sometimes unrelenting bombardment since Russia launched its full-scale invasion greater than a yr in the past, not often has Russia launched drones on the capital evening after evening. The air raid alarm on Thursday night was not nationwide, as is commonly the case, however targeted solely on Kyiv.
Explosions additionally shook Kyiv early Thursday and a regional official mentioned air defenses shot down Russian drones and ballistic missiles. The Ukrainian navy’s southern command in Odesa mentioned drones had been additionally shot down there and provided images that recommended that some had the handwritten messages “For Moscow” and “For the Kremlin” on them.
There have been no experiences of casualties in these incidents. However within the southern area of Kherson, officers raised the death toll from Russian shelling on Wednesday to 23 folks, making it one of many deadliest barrages in Ukraine this yr.
The US and Ukraine each mentioned they feared that Russia would search to accentuate assaults after the explosions over the Kremlin on Wednesday, which had been apparently brought on by drones.
Russia blamed Ukraine for the episode, calling it an assassination try on President Vladimir V. Putin, and mentioned it reserved the fitting to retaliate. Ukraine, which generally maintains deliberate ambiguity over accountability for assaults inside Russia, categorically denied involvement and accused Moscow of manufacturing the incident as a pretext for additional aggression and to fire up public assist.
It remained unclear who was chargeable for the explosions, which occurred quarter-hour aside. The US Embassy in Kyiv issued a warning late Wednesday that there was a heightened danger of Russian missile assaults, together with within the Ukrainian capital and surrounding space, citing “the latest uptick in strikes throughout Ukraine and inflammatory rhetoric from Moscow.”
Early on Thursday in Kyiv, three loud booms rattled home windows about 2:30 a.m. native time and the police cordoned off what gave the impression to be particles from a missile or drone shot out of the sky over a central neighborhood. Some close by home windows had been shattered, and the odor of smoke hung within the air.
Russian attacked Odesa with at the least 15 drones, Ukraine’s southern navy command mentioned. The Ukrainians shot down 12, however three acquired by way of the air protection community and crashed into dorms for an academic establishment. There have been no experiences of casualties, the Ukrainian navy mentioned.
In cities and cities nearer to the sprawling entrance line in japanese and southern Ukraine, there have been additionally experiences of widespread bombardments. The harm was being assessed early Thursday morning.