explosions in the ukrainian capital, Kyivheard in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said the explosions hit the Shevchenkivsky district in the city center early on Wednesday. “Emergency services have been dispatched,” Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.
Oleksiy Kuleba, the governor of the Kyiv region, said the air defense systems were operational, and Klitschko said 10 Shahed drones had been shot down. Shahed drones are being supplied by Iran to Russia, which uses them to target infrastructure and civilian targets in Iran Ukraine.
The Guardian’s correspondent in Ukraine said the siren first sounded at 05.57am, but the first explosion – which could have been anti-aircraft fire – was reported to Ukraine’s Telegram channel at 06.08am.
The siren sounded at 0557, but the first explosion – which could have been anti-aircraft – was reported to one of the Ukrainian Telegram channels at 0608. And so 11 minutes. Recently, there has been a gap of at least 30 minutes between a warning and an explosion.
– Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) December 14, 2022
The UK ambassador said she was “moving away from the windows and hearing the explosions outside”.
Move away from windows and hear explosions outside. It’s an early start today for 🇷🇺 attacks on # Kyiv
– Melinda Simmons (@MelSimmonsFCDO) December 14, 2022
Emergency services maps showed the capital and the surrounding area had been under air raid siren alerts for about 20 minutes before the blasts.
This is a breaking news story, check back for updates
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