Russian strikes on Ukraine capital kill 2 people

KIEV

Russian strikes on Kiev killed two people and wounded at least five others, including a child, Ukrainian emergency services said on July 16, after explosions rocked the capital shortly after midnight.

The attack is the latest in Russia's near-daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities, as Moscow presses its invasion which is now in its fifth year.

AFP journalists in Kiev heard a series of explosions after a Ukrainian air force alert reported the approach of several ballistic missiles.

There were a number of bright flashes in the sky over Ukraine's capital, followed by half a dozen detonations, they said.

"Two people have been killed in Kiev as a result of an enemy attack," Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Ukraine's state emergency service said five people were wounded and that the Sviatoshynskyi and Darnytskyi districts were hit.

The attack came a few hours after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited to boost defence ties.

Mayor Klitschko wrote on social media earlier that a warehouse was hit while "missile debris fell on non-residential buildings."

At the same time, Kharkiv, the main city in northeast Ukraine, was hit by combat drones, its mayor said.

Kiev has been regularly targeted by Russian ballistic missiles since last month. The weapons are fast and difficult to intercept.

During bombardments, missiles are fired in successive salvoes and blasts occur in quick succession.

Kiev is suffering in particular from a shortage of PAC-3 missiles for its U.S.-designed Patriot systems, which are essential for intercepting ballistic projectiles.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that he intended to authorise Ukraine to produce missiles for Patriot defence systems.

His Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on July 15 that production could begin by the end of this year to strengthen the country's defenses against Russian ballistic strikes.