‘Waiting for all of this to end’
The heart of the Ukrainian capital was largely deserted as air raid sirens blared for hours and explosions hit throughout the city, leaving residents to pack shelters.
Kyiv resident Olga Povalyaeva told NBC News that around 8 a.m. local time (1 a.m. ET), she heard a loud explosion and saw the sky turn red in her area of the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv, which appeared to have suffered the most serious damage Tuesday.
“Then a moment later, there were huge plumes of smoke over one of the buildings, and the blast wave hit our building — the walls and the windows started shaking a lot,” Povalyaeva, 31, said.
She said it was one of the biggest shelling attacks so far, with blasts hitting really close to home and lasting for about 1½ hours. “I was personally really scared,” she said, adding that she spent much of the day hiding in the bathroom with her dog, Daisy. “We were just waiting for all of this to end,” she added.
The city’s military administration said that at least two people were killed and 48 others were injured. The officials said residential high-rise buildings caught on fire in the Solomianskyi district as a result of the strikes, trapping some people inside as rescuers rushed to get them out. Mayor Vitali Klitschko shared a video of one smoldering residential building in the area, calling it a “depressing” scene.
Hits were also reported in the broader Kyiv region, where two people died, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
In Kharkiv in Ukraine’s northeast, Klymenko said, one person died and 44 others were injured, with a lot of civilian infrastructure damaged. The regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, shared photos on Telegram, showing mangled cars and blown-out windows in residential buildings.
Ukraine’s air force said the attack Tuesday was reminiscent of the one Dec. 29, which Ukrainian officials called one of the biggest aerial barrages of the war, in the range of weapons used by the…
Read the full article here