Russian ballistic missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv killed at least one person early on Thursday, officials said, while neighbouring Poland scrambled fighter jets to secure its airspace.
Multiple explosions were heard in Kyiv, according to a Reuters witness. A few non-residential sites caught fire, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a Telegram post, as most regions of Ukraine issued air raid alerts.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had earlier warned that a massive Russian attack was likely.
Zelenskiy said the safety of Ukrainians depended on the willingness of allies to provide anti-missile defences, as he returned from the United States where he said President Donald Trump agreed to give Ukraine licenses for Patriot missiles.
“It is important that our partners fully understand what is happening and that the protection of people’s lives depends directly on their willingness, or lack of willingness, to provide air defence missiles,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
Poland, a member of the European Union and NATO which shares a border with Ukraine, protectively scrambled fighter jets to protect its airspace amid Russian air strikes, the Armed Forces said on X.
“Fighter aircraft and an early warning aircraft have begun operations while ground-based air defence systems and radar reconnaissance systems have reached a state of readiness,” the post said, adding that the actions are of a preventive nature.