Large-scale strike on Kiev: houses attacked, dozens injured, child among the dead

On the night of 31 July, Russian forces launched a massive combined strike on Kyiv, using both drones and missiles. As a result, four districts of the capital were affected, residential houses were destroyed, educational institutions, cars and civilian infrastructure were damaged. There are dead and dozens injured, among them children and police officers.

Three waves of alarms and a series of explosions

An air alert in Kiev was first sounded on the evening of 30 July and lasted for more than four hours. It was in response to a large-scale kamikaze drone attack, mostly in the direction of the Solomenskyi district. In the morning, the alarm was announced again - already because of the threat of a missile strike. It was at this time that the city was hit with powerful strikes.

At about 04:29 the first explosions were heard in Kiev. Flashes from working air defence systems were seen in the sky. However, some of the targets still reached the city, causing destruction and fires.

Destruction in the capital's districts

The most difficult situation was in Svyatoshinsky district, where part of a nine-storey apartment block was destroyed as a result of a direct hit. Rescue operation has been deployed there - there may be people under the rubble. Solomenskyi district was also badly affected: fires, destruction of residential buildings and a hit to one of the universities were recorded.

In Holosiivskyi district, a residential building and cars were hit - a fire broke out. In Shevchenkivskyi district, a shock wave blew out windows in the children's ward of a medical centre.

According to the capital's authorities, the consequences of the attack were recorded in at least 27 locations across the city. Flats, educational institutions, cars and administrative buildings were damaged.

Victims and injured

On the morning of 31 July it is known about six dead as a result of the strike - four of them in Svyatoshinsky district, two more in Solomensky district. Among the dead is a six-year-old boy. The number of injured rose to 52 people, almost 30 were hospitalised, including nine children. Three police officers who were travelling to a call at the time of the attack were also injured. Two of the injured were pulled out of the rubble by rescuers.

The number of injured, according to the head of the KGBA Timur Tkachenko, may increase, as the rescue operation at the site of the destroyed house continues. State Emergency Situations Service employees are removing the rubble and searching for survivors.

Reaction of the authorities

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed the scale of the destruction and casualties. According to him, emergency services and medical teams are working in Svyatoshinsky and Shevchenko districts. Authorities note that this is one of the most devastating attacks on the capital in recent months.

The head of the Interior Ministry, Ihor Klymenko, said that the occupants' actions were aimed at terrorising civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure. He also confirmed the fact of a direct hit on a residential building in Svyatoshynskyi district and stressed that the enemy was striking deliberately at residential neighbourhoods. Now from under the rubble in Svyatoshynskyi district they are trying to get a live man.