Kiev [Ukraine], August 21: Russian forces have launched ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine's capital Kiev, killing at least 16 people and wounding 33, officials said.
Explosions rang out across several districts of Kiev early on Thursday, shaking buildings and setting off car alarms, according to the Kyiv Independent, a Ukrainian news outlet.
The blasts hit the Sviatoshynskyi, Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts.
In Solomianskyi, a nine-storey residential building collapsed and caught fire following the attack, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. He said a children's hospital in the district was also damaged, with windows shattered and cars burning on the grounds.
"People are trapped" at another residential building, he continued, with parts of Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi also without electricity.
Ukraine's Emergency Services said at least 33 people were wounded in the "massive attack" on the capital, with fires breaking out in residential buildings and warehouses.
It said rescuers were at the scene of the attacks and had rescued at least two people from the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Fifteen people were killed in the capital, Klitschko said, while another person was killed in the Kiev region.
The attack, which lasted for nine hours, also damaged warehouses in Boryspil, outside Kiev, authorities said.
Russia launched at least 44 missiles, of which 39 were shot down, according to Ukraine's air force.
Moscow said it hit "military-industrial facilities, a transportation and logistics centre, and warehouses" in Kiev city and region.
Reporting from Kiev, Al Jazeera's Audrey MacAlpine said air raid alarms continued to sound in the city on Thursday morning.
"We know that two fuel industrial facilities were hit," she said.
MacAlpine said Russia's escalating missile attacks across Ukraine were causing growing concern as Ukraine faces a shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles. The lack of sufficient air defences will be "a problem when Russia begins to target energy infrastructure, sites that will keep the heat and electricity on this winter", she said.
The attacks also prompted security responses in neighbouring NATO member states.
Poland's military command said it had mobilised aircraft and activated air defences to protect its airspace, particularly in areas bordering Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia's Ministry of Defence said it had shot down 726 Ukrainian UAVs between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning over several regions, as well as over the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.
The attacks came a day after Ukraine's parliament confirmed Yevhenii Khmara as the country's new defence minister. Lawmakers approved his appointment 312-2, well above the 226 votes needed.
Khmara is a career intelligence official who rose through the ranks of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). He previously led its Alpha special operations unit, whose personnel have reportedly been linked to Operation Spiderweb, last year's drone attack deep inside Russian territory.
Source: Qatar Tribune