A Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian capital killed three people on Saturday, Ukrainian leaders said, in branding it a “heinous” attack, while Moscow called it “retaliation” for bombardments on its territory.
Russia frequently targets Kyiv with aerial attacks, but deadly strikes there are rare, as the capital is heavily protected by air defences and better able to fend off attacks than elsewhere in the country.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the world to up its pressure on the Kremlin to force it to end the nearly three-year invasion.
Russia’s defence ministry said the strike had hit a rocket-maker based in the Ukrainian capital.
“The Russian armed forces carried out a group strike with precision-guided weapons against Ukrainian military-industrial facilities, including the Luch Design Bureau that develops and manufactures long-range guided missiles,” the Russian defence ministry said.
It called the attack “retaliation” for Ukraine’s use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles …