Explosions rock Kyiv as air raid sirens blare throughout Ukraine | CBC News

A series of explosions rocked Kyiv on Saturday morning and minutes later air raid sirens started to wail in the city and across most of Ukraine as apparent missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital and other regions began.

Critical infrastructure in Kyiv was targeted, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said on Telegram.

An unidentified infrastructure object was hit in the city and emergency services were operating at the site of the strike, Kyiv’s city military administration said.

Explosions were heard in the Dniprovskyi district of the city, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Klitschko also said that fragments of a missile fell on a non-residential area in the Holosiivskyi district, and a fire broke out in a building there. No casualties have been reported so far.

1st attack on Kyiv since Jan. 1

It wasn’t immediately clear whether several facilities in Kyiv were targeted or just the one that was reported hit. The Ukrainian capital hasn’t been attacked with missiles since New Year’s night, Jan. 1.

In the outlying Kyiv region, a residential building in the village of Kopyliv was hit, and windows of the houses nearby were blown out, Tymoshenko said.

A total of 18 private houses were damaged in the region, according to regional Gov. Oleksii Kuleba. “There are damaged roofs and windows,” but no casualties, Kuleba said in a Telegram post. He added that a fire has been contained at a “critical infrastructure facility” in the region.

With Russia’s invasion in its 11th month, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday confirmed the U.K. plans to send some Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, along with additional artillery support, his office said.

During a phone call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the two leaders “agreed on the need to seize on this moment with an acceleration of global military and diplomatic support to Ukraine,” a spokesperson for Sunak said.

A statement from Sunak’s Downing Street office did not say when the tanks were to be delivered or how many.

Earlier on Saturday, two Russian missiles hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, the governor of the Kharkiv region reported.

Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces fired two S-300 missiles at the eastern industrial district of Kharkiv. The strikes targeted “energy and industrial objects of Kharkiv and the [outlying] region,” Syniehubov said. No casualties have been reported, but emergency power cuts in the city and other settlements of the region were possible, the official said.

The regional governor of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim, said Russian missiles had been spotted flying in Ukraine’s south and that air defences were working. 

Status of salt town disputed

The attacks come amid conflicting reports on the fate of the fiercely contested salt mining town of Soledar, in Ukraine’s embattled east. Russia claims that its forces have captured the town, a development that would mark a rare victory for the Kremlin after a series of humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.

Ukrainian authorities and Zelenskyy insist the fight for Soledar continues.

WATCH | Russia claims victory in battle for Soledar with help from mercenary group: 

Hotly contested Ukrainian town falls to Russia with help from mercenary group

The hotly contested salt mining town of Soledar in Ukraine was claimed by Moscow, with the Russian defence ministry clarifying that mercenaries from the Wagner Group did most of the fighting during the conflict.

Moscow has painted the battle for the town and the nearby city of Bakhmut as key to capturing the eastern region of the Donbas, which comprises of partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and as a way to grind down the best Ukrainian forces and prevent them from launching counterattacks elsewhere.

But that cuts both ways, as Ukraine says its fierce defence of the eastern strongholds has helped tie up Russian forces. Western officials and analysts say the two towns’ importance is more symbolic than strategic.