Oct 13 (Reuters) – Russian forces struck the Ukrainian capital with ballistic missiles on Tuesday, killing two people in a high-rise apartment and hitting a thermal power plant in the second attack in 24 hours without warning from Kyiv’s Western allies.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the main target was energy infrastructure. He said it was unfair that Kyiv was enduring attacks without warnings from partners and said intelligence showed that more strikes were likely.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the strike on the nine-storey building had killed two people and injured 21. Sixteen were being treated in hospital and four were in a serious condition.
Emergency crews were battling fires in apartments throughout the building and residents were being evacuated. Reuters pictures and TV footage showed firefighters training hoses on the building’s shattered facade.
“Once again, no advance warning from our partners. The main target was energy infrastructure, specifically thermal plant No. 4,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
“According to our intelligence, the Russians are preparing further ballistic missile launches.”
“The facts show that the Russians do not consider themselves bound to abide by what the president of the United States said,” he added, referring to US President Donald Trump’s announcement of an energy ceasefire at the weekend.
“And it is certainly unfair that they are destroying our energy infrastructure while Ukraine is not even receiving warnings about ballistic missile launches.”
Zelenskiy had earlier said that Ukraine had received no warning from Western partners before a previous overnight attack on the capital.
Trump said Washington was still sharing intelligence even as he pressured Kyiv to halt attacks on Russian refineries.
Reuters and other media have reported that US officials have threatened to cut off intelligence sharing and weapons sales to Ukraine unless it stops attacking Russian refineries. Kyiv relies heavily on US intelligence for early warnings of missile strikes, experts and officials say.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski, Editing by Franklin Paul and Cynthia Osterman)
Comments