Explosions heard in Kyiv
Daniel Boffey
Daniel Boffey is in Ukraine for the Guardian:
There have been four major explosions in the last few minutes in Kyiv. The blasts could be heard across the Ukrainian capital.
The source is as yet unconfirmed, but the official Telegram channel of the country’s air force had warned shortly before of the launch of Kh-47M2 ballistic missiles: “Stay in cover,” it wrote.
Car alarms are ringing out and people are running to their bunkers.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, wrote on Telegram: “Explosions in the city, stay in the shelters please.”
The city’s military authorities said their anti-rocket systems were working.
Air raid on Kyiv. Sheltering at work. It’s noisy out there. Stay safe Kyiv friends.
— Dame Melinda Simmons (@MelSimmonsFCDO) August 11, 2023
Key events
Moscow mayor says no casualties after drone bought down over city
Sergey Sobyanin, mayor of Moscow, has reported that nobody has been injured after a drone was downed over the city.
He posted to Telegram to say:
An attempt was made to fly a drone over the city. As a result of the air defence work, it was eliminated. No one was hurt when debris fell in the area of Karamyshevskaya embankment. There are no serious damages. Emergency services are on site.
Video has emerged which appears to show the aftermath.
Moscow’s Vnukovo airport has reopened, Tass reports.
No casualties reported in Kyiv after falling debris
Air defence systems appear to have prevented Russian strikes on Kyiv this morning, with falling debris striking the city but no casualties reported.
The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, posted to Telegram:
In addition to the debris of the rocket that fell on the territory of one of the capital’s children’s hospitals, two more crash sites were found in the Obolon district of Kyiv.
The roof of a private house was damaged on Bogatyrska Street.
Also in Obolon, a wreck was discovered in an open area in one of the summer cooperatives. There are no casualties.
Reuters is carrying a statement from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. It stated:
For reasons beyond the control of the airport, temporary restrictions on the landing and take-offs of aircraft were introduced in Vnukovo. For safety reasons, some of the flights were redirected to other airports of the Moscow aviation hub.
The all clear has sounded across Ukraine.
Russian authorities appear to have ruled out any Ukrainian involvement in the major explosion at the Zagorsk optical and mechanical plant in Sergiev Posad near Moscow.
Interfax reports that a criminal case has been initiated on violation of industrial safety requirements, and that the technical director of the Piro-Ross company, which owned the warehouse where the explosion occurred, has been detained.
Eight people are still reported to be missing, with 84 wounded. One person is known to have died.
Tass cites the Russian-imposed local authority in Horlivka in Donetsk on it Telegram channel as saying that Ukrainian forces have hit the city with four cluster munitions. The claims have not been independently verified. There were no details of any casualties.
Drone forces closure of Moscow’s Vnukovo airport
Russian state-owned news agency RIA reports on its Telegram channel that Vnukovo airport in Moscow is temporarily closed beacause of a drone in its airspace. It cited Russia’s emergency services.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reports that a children’s hospital has been stuck in a Russian attack on the city on Friday morning, but that there were no casualties. He posted to Telegram:
Fragments of a rocket fell on the territory of one of the capital’s children’s hospitals. There were no injuries or damage. Emergency services are on the scene.
Explosions heard in Kyiv
Daniel Boffey
Daniel Boffey is in Ukraine for the Guardian:
There have been four major explosions in the last few minutes in Kyiv. The blasts could be heard across the Ukrainian capital.
The source is as yet unconfirmed, but the official Telegram channel of the country’s air force had warned shortly before of the launch of Kh-47M2 ballistic missiles: “Stay in cover,” it wrote.
Car alarms are ringing out and people are running to their bunkers.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, wrote on Telegram: “Explosions in the city, stay in the shelters please.”
The city’s military authorities said their anti-rocket systems were working.
Air raid on Kyiv. Sheltering at work. It’s noisy out there. Stay safe Kyiv friends.
— Dame Melinda Simmons (@MelSimmonsFCDO) August 11, 2023
Suspilne reports that explosions have been heard in Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia.
Christopher Miller of the FT notes that several recent Russian targets have been places frequented by the media when they are staying in Ukraine to report on Russia’s invasion.
A pattern is emerging… This follows the Russian missile attack earlier this week on Druzhba hotel in Pokrovsk and the attack that struck Ria Pizza and damaged the Kramatorsk hotel beside it. All places frequented by journalists. https://t.co/O1Fz1Qqeut
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) August 11, 2023
Explosions have been heard in Kyiv, and the local city authority has reported that the air defence is in action.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidency’s office, has posted more detail about the strike on Kherson on Telegram. He reports that two people, a woman and a 44-year-old man, were injured.
Yermak also reports that a man has been injured in Beryslav after a drone strike.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that a high-rise building in Kherson was hit by artillery fire at 8.30am [6.30am BST] this morning. A woman received shrapnel wounds, it stated.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has issued its daily intelligence briefing on the war, and today the focus is on Belarus. It asserts that the military exercises taking place on the Russian ally’s soil are “highly likely part of the Belarussian military’s routine training cycle”, but it notes: “However, Russia is almost certainly keen to promote Belarussian forces as posturing against Nato.”
In recent days Poland has sent more troops to its border with Belarus, in part to help its border guard force cope with migrant flows that Belarus allows to pass into the EU, and in part to counter what is perceived to be a threat from the arrival of Wagner mercenary forces in Belarus. Poland last week accused Belarussian helicopters of violating its airspace.
Zaporizhzhia hotel hit in Russian strikes is used by UN workers
The hotel struck by Russia is used by United Nations staff when they work in the town, Denise Brown, the humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said in a statement seen by Reuters.
“I am appalled by the news that a hotel frequently used by United Nations personnel and our colleagues from NGOs supporting people affected by the war has been hit by a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia shortly ago,” she said. “I have stayed in this hotel every single time I visited Zaporizhzhia.”
Russian missile strike hits Zaporizhzhia hotel, killing one and injuring 16, including children
A Russian missile struck a hotel in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday evening, Reuters reports. The attack killed one person and injured 16, including four children, Ukrainian officials said.
National police said an Iskander missile hit the city at 7:20 p.m. (1620 GMT).
“Zaporizhzhia. The city suffers daily from Russian shelling. A fire broke out in a civilian building after the occupiers hit it with a missile,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Pictures and video shared by officials showed a big crater, wrecked cars and a badly damaged four-storey building with a hotel sign.
Local media reported that the damaged building is Reikartz Hotel in the city centre on the bank of the Dnipro River.
It was the second strike on Zaporizhzhia in as many days. Two young women and a man were killed and nine other people were wounded in a Russian missile attack on Wednesday.
Opening summary
Welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.
Our top story this morning:
A Russian missile struck a hotel in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday evening, leaving one dead and 16 injured, Ukrainian officials said.
Zaporizhzhia governor Yuriy Malashko said the 16 injured included four children. The United Nations staff used the hotel when they worked in the town, said Denise Brown, the humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, in a statement emailed to Reuters. It was the second strike on Zaporizhzhia in as many days. Two young women and a man were killed and nine other people were wounded in a Russian missile attack on Wednesday.
Elsewhere:
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Ukrainian forces have recaptured the heights over Bakhmut and are successfully encircling Russian troops in the city, the deputy defence minister in Kyiv has said. In an interview with the Guardian, Hanna Maliar said Russian soldiers could no longer move around Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region and progress was being made in outflanking enemy forces after months of deadly battles.
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Two people have been killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian village of Chausy in the Bryansk region, the region’s governor has claimed. Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram: “Currently, two civilians have died from the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.” Bryansk borders Ukraine to the north-east.
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Russia’s defence ministry said early on Thursday it had downed 11 Ukrainian drones near Crimea overnight, as well as two drones flying toward the capital Moscow. It said two Ukrainian drones were shot down near the city of Sevastopol on the Crimean coast, and “another 9 were suppressed by means of electronic warfare and crashed in the Black Sea”. The ministry said there were no reports of damage or casualties in any of the affected areas.
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Ukraine claims to have shot down seven of ten “Shahed” drones launched at it overnight by Russia. Air defence was said to be active in Kyiv region and Khmelnytskyi.
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Six residents of Bilozerka in the Kherson region have been hospitalised after Russian artillery fire hit people receiving humanitarian aid, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
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The White House is asking Congress for an additional $24bn in Ukraine aid, senior administration officials revealed on Thursday. The US has so far given Ukraine more than $113bn in aid since Russia invaded in February 2021, making it Ukraine’s biggest funder in its defense against Russia.
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The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant again lost connection to its last remaining main external power line overnight and was switched to a reserve line, state-owned power generating company Energoatom said on Thursday. Additionally, the station’s Russian-installed administration said the Number 4 reactor had been moved from a “hot” to a “cold” shutdown because of signs of a steam leak.
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Russian drones destroyed a fuel depot in Ukraine’s western Rivne region on Thursday, governor Vitaly Koval wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
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The co-founder of Russian internet giant Yandex, Arkady Volozh, condemned what he described as Russia’s “barbaric” invasion of Ukraine, days after criticism in Russia over his apparent efforts to distance himself from the country. “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is barbaric, and I am categorically against it,” Reuters reports Volozh said in a statement. “I am horrified about the fate of people in Ukraine – many of them my personal friends and relatives – whose houses are being bombed every day.”
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Poland is planning to move up to 10,000 additional troops to the border with Belarus to support the Border Guard, the defence minister, Mariusz Błaszczak, said on Thursday. “About 10,000 soldiers will be on the border, of which 4,000 will directly support the Border Guard and 6,000 will be in the reserve,” the minister said in an interview for public radio. “We move the army closer to the border with Belarus to scare away the aggressor so that it does not dare to attack us,” Błaszczak said. Last week Poland said Belarusian helicopters had violated its airspace and has warned of provocations.
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The UK Ministry of Defence has claimed Russian authorities have stepped up efforts to block citizens’ access to virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow people to bypass restrictions on the internet. It notes “VPNs are hugely popular in Russia, despite being illegal since 2017. They allow users to access objective international news sources, including about the war in Ukraine.”
