Air warning sirens sounded across kyiv, hit by explosions. ANATOLII STEPANOV / AFP
No casualties “have been recorded so far,” said the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko.
Regularly targeted by Russian missiles, kyiv jumped this Saturday morning. Two loud explosions were heard in central Kiev shortly before air alert sirens sounded in the Ukrainian capital.
“According to preliminary information, air defense worked against ballistic weapons. The alert continues, stay in the shelters“, said the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, on Telegram. “No casualties have been reported so far“, he added a little later.
Two lines of white smoke
AFP journalists saw two lines of white smoke in the sky, probably left by two Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense missiles, just before the two explosions. Air warning sirens then sounded in the capital, last hit at the end of September by Russian strikes.
Last winter, systematic strikes on Ukraine’s energy system regularly left thousands of homes without heat. On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country had deployed new air defense systems supplied by its Western allies, in anticipation of a new wave of Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure.