Russia says five people have been killed in a Ukrainian strike in the western Kursk region.
Ukrainian officials reported earlier that Moscow had launched a fresh missile attack on Kyiv, damaging a building hosting several embassies.
In Russia, the acting governor of the Kursk region said in addition to those killed, nine had been taken to hospital following the attack on the town of Rylsk.
Alexander Khinshtein said a cultural centre, a fitness complex, a school and homes had been damaged in the strike which took place at 15:30 local time (12:30 GMT) on Friday.
Russian officials earlier reported six killed, including a child, in Rylsk, about 25km (16 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
But in an audio message on Telegram on Saturday morning, Khinstein gave the latest update, saying there were five fatalities.
“There were no children among those [killed],” he said.
Ukrainian troops still hold parts of the Kursk region after launching a surprise cross-border offensive in early August.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Russia’s strike on Kyiv had affected the diplomatic missions of Albania, Argentina, North Macedonia, Palestine, Portugal and Montenegro. It is unclear whether the building housing them was directly targeted in the Ukrainian capital.
At least one person was killed and nine others were injured in the strike which damaged a number of buildings in the city, Ukraine’s military said. It is not thought that any of the embassy diplomats were injured.
In a verified video filmed in the Pecherskyi District, Kyiv’s second oldest Roman Catholic church, St Nicholas Cathedral. is shown with windows shattered following a nearby blast.
Ukraine’s military said Russia had launched 65 drones and missiles across the country overnight, with most shot down.
One man in Kyiv, who said he was the owner of a restaurant that suffered extensive damage following the attack, was filmed cursing the Russians as “beasts” as he surveyed the charred shell of a building in front of him.
The video was widely shared on social media.
Ukrainian police inspect debris inside the St Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in Kyiv [EPA]
Oksana, another resident, sent the BBC photos of her destroyed apartment, with the windows blown in and glass and brickwork strewn across the floors.
“I don’t understand how I survived,” she said.
“My balcony flew away, half my walls are gone. My neighbour is in such shock she can’t even speak. I have no words for the people who did this.”
A local journalist at the scene told the BBC that one of the buildings nearby had been used by the Ukrainian Security Service, the SBU, and was likely to have been the target of the strikes, although much of the damage seen by the BBC had affected residential buildings.
In a statement confirming the attack, the Russian defence ministry said missiles had been launched at an SBU “command post” in response to a strike on a chemical plant in Russia’s Rostov Region two days ago.
But there is also speculation in Kyiv that Friday’s attack could be linked to the killing of a Russian general, Lt-Gen Igor Kirillov, in Moscow on Tuesday.
Friday’s attack come one day after Vladimir Putin’s end-of-year press conference and phone-in show, in which he threatened to launch more ballistic missiles at the Ukrainian capital.
There is concern in Ukraine that Russia could use a so-called Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile to hit Kyiv. Moscow test-fired the missile on the central city of Dnipro earlier this month.
Earlier on Friday morning, the Ukrainian authorities issued an air alert linked to the possible launch of an Oreshnik missile, and urged people in Kyiv to urgently seek shelter. It turned out to be a false alarm.
[BBC]
