BBCThree people were killed in a Russian airstrike in Kyiv overnight, Ukrainian officials said.
The ballistic missile went down just before the authorities raised the alarm 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT), shortly after the end of the air raid warning.
Visiting the scene, in the downtown Shevchenkivskyi district, a large crater can be seen on the street outside the business center – the tall glass tower itself was badly damaged. either a second arrow or a larger piece.
It is not clear what was the target of the attack, which left other buildings in the area littered with debris and broken glass.
Earlier, officials reported that four people died in this incident.
Next to the large crater, a Ukrainian forensics expert was examining fragments of a missile collected in a pile of twisted gray metal on the pavement.
Andriy Kulchytskyy, head of the Military Research Laboratory of the Kyiv Institute of Scientific Expertise, told the BBC that the crater was the result of a direct hit by an Iskander-M ballistic missile.
“This particular area shows one effect,” he explained. “There are other strikes, and we have collected debris. Here, a missile hit the road directly.”
“Arrow fragments have certain characteristics and characteristics. By their number, you can tell their origin.”
The projectile landed in front of the warning bells because the missiles are moving so fast that the sirens cannot react in time, Mr. Kulchytskyy said.
The business center was empty at the time of the missile launch, and had been on fire since before 2022 with no entry since.
Everything around it – including the local McDonald’s – was similarly damaged.
A nearby dental clinic has been destroyed in the blast. Inside, workers pick up broken glass and dirt, finding what they know.
Another woman was removing baubles from a Christmas tree that was still standing.
“It’s happened before,” he told me, “but never as bad as this.”
Asked how he felt, he just shrugged: “We’re used to it.”
A young man, coming from a nearby block of flats described the explosion in the morning.
“There were three explosions in a row, then there was a huge fire in the sky – and the building shook. There was a lot of noise,” said Oleksandr.
“I woke up quickly – until I heard the wall shaking. When the third strike came, it was very scary.”
On Saturday morning, emergency teams and police were everywhere and the main road was closed.
Videos posted online show the car engulfed in flames and water running down a flooded road shortly afterwards.
Air defenses were operating in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
This is the second attack on Kyiv this month, following a strike that took place in the city on New Year’s Day that left two people dead.
Meanwhile, in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, local authorities said six people were injured in a Russian strike on Saturday. Another woman is said to be in critical condition.
The strikes are the latest in a war that began following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
They followed several Ukraine’s attack on Russian territory earlier in the week.
The latest strikes come days before the imminent inauguration of Donald Trump in the US, with many Ukrainians worried about Trump’s promise to cut US military and financial aid to the embattled country.
The president-elect had said during the campaign he will end the conflict on his first day in poweralthough he has said that he may need six months.
In recent days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized the country’s dependence on US support as Russian airstrikes and front-line fighting continue.
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