Kyiv breathes sigh of relief after air raid warning ended

For the 14th day this month, the city of Kyiv has been the target of Russian aerial attacks. But finally, Kyiv ended the air raid warning on Monday after a few hours of the attack in the Ukrainian capital, CNN reported.

Earlier, Kyiv came under the unusual daytime attack just hours after more than 60 drones and cruise missiles launched at it were shot down overnight.

Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv city military administration, said, "Only 6 hours after the night attack, the aggressor country launched another missile attack on Kyiv. Preliminarily, the enemy used ballistic missiles."

Popko further stated that primarily all the air targets were successfully hit by the air defence forces and no hits have been reported on facilities in Kyiv, reported CNN.

"This was the 16th attack on the capital since the beginning of the month. Thus, the enemy changed its tactics - after prolonged, nighttime attacks only, it struck a peaceful city during the day when most residents were at work and outside," he added.

Debris from intercepted missiles fell in three parts of the city - Obolonskyi district, Desnianskyi and Dniprovskyi, he added.

He did not mention Podilskyi district where officials said earlier that debris fell on the roof of a building and one man had been hospitalized.

Earlier, CNN reported that its team had heard six loud explosions in central Kyiv. At that time, it was not immediately clear if these were the sound of interceptions by air defence systems or impacts on the ground.

The explosions were heard within minutes of the air raid warning being activated. This is an unusually short time between the sirens going off and the drones or missiles arriving over the city.

Meanwhile, Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko said that one man was hospitalized in the capital's Podilskyi district. Klitschko further stated that the missile fragments fell in the area.

The Kyiv city military administration said a fire had broken out on the roof of a two-story building in Podilskyi due to falling debris -- likely the result of air defence systems shooting down enemy targets.

"There are explosions in the city! In the central districts. Stay in shelters!" Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, said earlier on Telegram.

Kyiv city's military administration said rescue and firefighting services have been deployed to "extinguish missile fragments burning" on a road in the capital's Obolonskyi district.

The daytime strikes follow a night of heavy bombardment on Kyiv, in which Ukrainian air defences destroyed 67 out of 75 "air targets," including cruise missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones. (ANI)