Four killed in Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv

Dawn raid on busy Shevchenkivskyi district also damaged water pipeline and forced closure of metro station.

At least four people have been killed in a Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital.

Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said the attack at dawn on Saturday took place in the city’s centrally located Shevchenkivskyi district.

“Stay in shelters,” said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, in a post on Telegram on Saturday morning. He had warned of a “ballistic missile threat” against the capital hours earlier and said air defences were in operation around the city.

Windows were shattered in Shevchenkivskyi district, including those at the entrance of the Lukianivska metro station, which was closed down, according to the mayor.

Shevchenkivskyi area is a busy part of Kyiv with universities, bars and restaurants.

Also on Saturday, Russian forces “attacked the centre” of Zaporizhzhia, injuring two people, according to local governor Ivan Fedorov. An administrative building of an industrial facility was partially damaged, he said.

Firefighters work at the site of the damaged Lukianivska metro station after a Russian missile attack on Kyiv [Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo]

Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said explosions were heard at about 6am (04:00 GMT), “reverberating amid a volley of anti-aircraft fire, with air alerts suggesting both ballistic missile and drone threats”.

He said that smoke was seen coming out of a residential building.

Later that morning, the Ukrainian Air Force reported that it had destroyed 24 drones and two ballistic missiles that were launched as part of the same attack.

Ukrainian counterattacks

The rare strike on the heart of the Ukrainian capital comes in the middle of intensified Ukrainian aerial attacks on Russian energy and military facilities in recent months.

Ukraine’s army has hit several Russian oil depots recently, including two major strikes on a facility near a military airfield in Russia’s Saratov region that triggered days-long blazes.

Late on Friday, a Ukrainian drone attack on Lyudinovo in Russia’s Kaluga region sparked a fire at an industrial site, according to regional governor Vladislav Shapsha.

Video posted on unofficial Russian social media sites showed firefighting vehicles speeding off in the direction of a large blaze at what they said was an oil storage depot in the city. No casualties were reported.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies