Kyiv: Two people were killed in Kyiv on Wednesday as Russia launched a fresh wave of attacks across Ukraine, with missiles and other strikes damaging buildings and warehouses in the capital.
Residents took shelter overnight in Kyiv’s underground metro stations as blasts echoed across the city. People were seen sleeping on platform floors, sitting in chairs and making makeshift resting spaces, with some accompanied by their pets.
Among those sheltering underground was 49-year-old Lesia, who gave only her first name. She said she and her family fled their ninth-floor apartment as missiles flew overhead, joining dozens of others who remained underground through the night before emerging at dawn for work and school.
Two bodies were found after an air strike triggered a fire at a garage cooperative in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. A Reuters witness reported hearing blasts across the city.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out a “massive strike” on targets in Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions. It said the attacks also targeted port facilities in Ukraine’s Odesa region and sea vessels used in the interests of the Ukrainian armed forces.
The latest strikes came as the war entered its fifth year, with Russia continuing near-daily attacks across Ukraine. The conflict has also increasingly affected the wider Black Sea, where commercial vessels have faced growing risks.
Against that backdrop, emergency crews on Tuesday rescued all 23 crew members of the Liberian-flagged tanker Aframax Rio after the vessel caught fire off Russia’s Black Sea coast following an attack by an unmanned vessel, Russia’s Transport Ministry said.
The ministry said all 23 crew members were Indian nationals and that none was injured. Video posted on social media showed the tanker on fire off Sochi, with a thick column of smoke rising from the vessel.
Russian regional authorities in Sirius, in the southern Krasnodar region, had earlier reported the tanker fire and closed local beaches to the public. The Transport Ministry said firefighters had sufficient resources to tackle the blaze once it became less intense.
