Russian air strikes hit Kyiv as Moscow claims to shoot down Ukrainian drone
Explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Friday as Ukrainian air defenses responded to morning Russian air strikes.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a Telegram post that no one had been injured but fragments of a missile had fallen onto the grounds of a children's hospital.
The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia had launched hypersonic Kinzhal missiles over the Kyiv region, while Ukrainian officials said the capital's air defenses were at work, the Reuters news agency reported.
Ukrainian authorities had issued a nationwide air alert before the attack..
Western allies have supplied sophisticated air defense systems to Ukraine to protect the country from regular Russian missile and drone strikes. The Biden administration on Thursday asked Congress to provide an additional $13 billion in emergency defense aid to Ukraine as the war rages on.
Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities far from the front lines throughout its war, often hitting civilian targets, assaults that Kyiv says are deliberate. Moscow denies intentionally targeting civilians.
On Friday, Russia said it had destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the western outskirts of Moscow, the latest in a growing number of aerial attacks on the capital.
"This afternoon, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an unmanned aerial vehicle on a facility in Moscow was thwarted," the defense ministry said, adding there was no damage or casualties as a result of the incident.
Friday's attack was the latest in a series of Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow in the past week. Largely spared in the early part of the conflict, the capital has seen a surge in attacks in recent months.
"The drone was electronically disabled and crashed in a forest in the west of Moscow," the defense ministry said.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said debris fell in the Karamyshevskaya embankment, where emergency services were at work.
The international airport of Vnukovo temporarily introduced restrictions but they were lifted within an hour, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.
On Thursday, Russia said it downed two drones headed for Moscow, a day after two others were destroyed on approach.
At the start of this month, an office block in the capital's main business district was struck twice within days by debris from a downed drone strike.
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- Kyiv