Russia-Ukraine war: Explosions rip through central Kyiv, President Zelenskyy says 'multiple dead'

 Multiple explosions rocked Kyiv early Monday following months of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in the city's Shevchenko district, a large area in the center of Kyiv that includes the historic old town as well as several government offices. Lesia Vasylenko, a member of Ukraine's parliament, posted a photo on Twitter showing that at least one explosion occurred near the main building of the Kyiv National University in central Kyiv.

The spokesperson for Emergency Service in Kyiv told the AP that there are killed and wounded people. Rescuers are now working in different locations, said Svitlana Vodolaga. The number of casualties is not yet known. The explosions were heard by AP journalists and appeared to be the result of missile strikes.

The last previous attack on Kyiv was in June. One of the missiles struck an apartment building, killing one and wounding six. But unlike previous attacks that mostly hit Kyiv's outskirts, Monday's strike targeted several locations in the very center of the city.

Also on Monday morning, Associated Press journalists reported hearing explosions in the center of Dnipro city. Associated Press journalists on the scene saw the bodies of multiple people killed at an industrial site on the city's outskirts. Windows in the area had been blown out and glass littered the street.

Ukrainian media reported explosions in a number of other locations, including the western city of Lviv that has been a refuge for many people fleeing the fighting in the east, as well as Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr and Kropyvnytskyi.
Recent fighting has focused on the regions just north of Crimea, including Zaporizhzhia, where six missiles were launched overnight Saturday from Russian-occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region.

The strikes on Kyiv and other cities came a few hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to hold a meeting with his security council, a day after he called the attack on the Kerch Bridge to Crimea a terrorist act carried out by Ukrainian special services. In a meeting Sunday with the chairman of Russia's Investigative Committee, Putin said "there's no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure."

(Source: PTI)