BBCUkrainian officials say three people were killed in an overnight Russian airstrike in Kiev.
The ballistic missile landed just before authorities sounded the alarm at 6 a.m. local time (4 a.m. GMT), shortly after the previous air raid warning had ended.
A visit to the scene in the Shevchenkivsky district in the city center reveals a large crater on the road outside the business center. The tall glass tower itself is very badly damaged, either by a second missile or by very large fragments.
It is unclear what was targeted in the attack, and other buildings in the area were littered with debris and broken glass.
Authorities earlier said four people were killed in the attack.
Next to the main crater, Ukrainian forensic experts examined missile debris collected in a pile of twisted gray metal on the pavement.
Andriy Kurchitsky, head of the military research institute at the Kyiv Scientific and Specialized Research Institute, told the BBC that the crater was caused by a direct hit from an Iskander-M ballistic missile.
“This particular site shows one effect,” he explained. “There were additional strikes and we recovered debris. Here the missile hit the road.”
“Missile fragments have specific characteristics and traces. Their number allows us to determine their origin.”
Kurchitsky said the ballistic missile was flying so fast that the missile landed before the warning siren could be heard.
At the time of the missile attack, the business center was empty and had been under new construction until 2022 and no one had occupied it since then.
All surrounding locations were similarly damaged, including the local McDonald’s.
A nearby dental clinic was almost completely destroyed by the blast. Inside, staff are wading through broken glass and clutter to salvage what they can.
One woman was removing baubles from a plastic Christmas tree that was still standing.
“It’s happened to me before, but it’s never been this bad,” she said.
When I asked her how she felt, she shrugged and said, “I’m used to it.”
A young man came out of a nearby apartment complex early this morning and described the explosion.
“There were three explosions in a row, then there was a big fire light in the sky and the building shook. There was a very loud sound,” Oleksandr said.
“I woke up right away. I could even feel the walls shaking. When the third attack came, it was pretty scary.”
Emergency teams and police were out in force on Saturday morning, and major roads were closed.
Video posted online showed the car bursting into flames shortly after, with water rushing down the flooded road.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defense forces were operating around the Ukrainian capital.
The deadly attack was the second in Kiev this month, following an attack on the city on New Year’s Day that left two people dead.
Meanwhile, in the southern city of Zaporizhia, six people were injured in a Russian airstrike on Saturday, local authorities said. One woman is said to be in serious condition.
These attacks are the latest in a war that began in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
They follow several attacks by Ukraine on Russian territory earlier this week.
The attack comes just days before President Donald Trump’s impending U.S. inauguration, and many Ukrainians are concerned about President Trump’s pledge to cut U.S. military and financial aid to the war-torn country. I am concerned about this.
The president-elect had insisted during his campaign that he would end the conflict on his first day in office, but has since said it could take six months.
In recent days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has reiterated his country’s dependence on U.S. aid as Russian airstrikes and fighting on the front continue.
