Ballistic missiles hit Kyiv, wounding five after Russia vows retaliation

A large ballistic missile attack struck Kyiv early Sunday, wounding at least five people after Moscow threatened retaliation for Ukrainian strikes in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.

Loud explosions were heard across the capital, shaking a residential building near the government district. Dozens of residents took shelter in an underground metro station in the city center, according to Agence France-Presse journalists.

"The capital has come under a mass ballistic missile attack," Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said five people had been wounded and one was hospitalized. He said medical teams responded to the Podilsky district in the northwest, where debris fell in a non-residential area.

"There are currently reports of at least 4 locations affected by the attack: Shevchenkivsky, Dniprovsky and Podilsky districts. Fires and damage to residential buildings are preliminarily reported," Tkachenko said. "A strike drone attack is ongoing; the ballistic missile threat remains present. Stay in shelters!"

Ukrainian authorities and the U.S. Embassy had warned of a possible major attack after Russia said it would "punish" those responsible for deadly strikes in occupied eastern Ukraine.

The attack also sparked a fire near a residential building in the Shevchenkivsky district, Klitschko said.

Kyiv had warned it expected a major Russian missile attack after its forces launched a drone barrage in the Russian-occupied east. Moscow said the drones hit a college dormitory in Starobilsk, in the occupied Lugansk region, killing at least 18 people and wounding 42.

Ukraine denied targeting civilians, saying it had hit a Russian drone unit stationed in the Starobilsk area. Russia's foreign ministry said on Friday that those responsible would face "inevitable and severe punishment."

On Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv issued warnings about the risk of a major Russian airstrike. Zelenskyy said Ukraine was seeing signs of preparation for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kyiv, involving various types of weaponry, including the Oreshnik, a Russian nuclear-capable hypersonic missile.

The U.S. Embassy said it had received information about a potentially significant air attack that could occur at any time over the next 24 hours.

Russia's emergency ministry said on Saturday it had recovered two more bodies from the dormitory rubble, bringing the death toll to 18. Video showed dozens of rescuers working through the remains of a section of the five-story building. Most of those killed and missing were young women born between 2003 and 2008, according to a list published by the Moscow-backed governor of occupied Lugansk, Leonid Pasechnik.

"The region and the entire country share the fate of these people and the pain of their families," he said on Telegram.

The United Nations said on Friday it "strongly condemns any attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur," adding it could not verify details due to restricted access.

Starobilsk lies about 40 miles from the front line in eastern Ukraine. It was captured by Russian forces in the early months of the 2022 offensive.

Ukraine regularly targets Russian-controlled areas with drones, saying the strikes are retaliation for Russian attacks. Moscow has launched mass barrages of missiles and drones at Ukraine almost daily since the full-scale offensive began in 2022, also hitting infrastructure and causing civilian deaths. It denies targeting civilians.