Russia has launched another massed missile attack on Kyiv in the early hours of 20 August. Russian forces struck the capital with ballistic and Zircon hypersonic missiles, with loud explosions heard across the city and region, according to Ukraine's monitoring channel Yeradar.
The strike is the latest in Russia's campaign of massed missile attacks on Kyiv. Russia has repeatedly hit the capital with ballistic and hypersonic weapons that Ukraine struggles to intercept for lack of Patriot missiles, killing civilians in their homes.
As of 1 AM, Russian Kalibr cruise missiles are approaching Ukrainian cities from Novorossiysk.
Earlier, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said that Russia went back to using imported electronics for its Kalibr cruise missiles’ guidance system after failing to replace them with homemade alternatives.
The ship-launched missile’s homing boards “are made up of more than 80–90% foreign-made components," the Ukrainian authorities reported.
The confirmed toll so far
Casualties were mounting as the attack went on. As of the latest update, one person was killed and three wounded in the attack, the Kyiv City Military Administration said, with information still being clarified.
The strikes hit across several districts. A children's hospital was damaged in the Solomianskyi district, where people were reported to be trapped in a shelter, and a five-story residential building was hit. Warehouses burned in the Sviatoshynskyi district, and non-residential buildings were struck in Darnytskyi, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported.
The attack was still developing
Ukraine's air defenses were engaging an ongoing threat. The Air Force had warned of ballistic weapons approaching from the north and northeast, and monitoring channels reported Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers taking off, which typically precede cruise-missile launches.
"Explosions in the capital. Kyiv is under ballistic attack. Stay in shelters," Klitschko wrote as the strikes continued.
With the attack unfolding as officials reported it, the full toll and damage were not yet known; the figures provided were preliminary.
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