Ukraine says debris from a downed missile fell on the grounds of a Kyiv hospital.

Ukraine stated its air defenses shot down a ballistic missile over Kyiv on Friday, a uncommon midmorning assault on the Ukrainian capital as Russia stepped up its assaults on cities and cities throughout the nation.

The Ukrainian Air Force stated that three different ballistic missiles, generally known as Kinzhals, had been geared toward navy airfields in the western half of the nation. Kinzhals are one of the most refined typical weapons in Russia’s arsenal.

“During the past and this week, the enemy intensified the use of virtually the full spectrum of its weapons to strike Ukrainian cities,” the Ukrainian navy stated in a assertion. “In particular, he increased the number of attacks by sea-, air- and land-based cruise and ballistic missiles.”

One Russian missile crashed into the dwelling of an 8-year-old boy in the western Ivano-Frankivsk area of Ukraine, officers stated.

“Doctors did everything possible, but, unfortunately, the child’s life could not be saved,” stated Svitlana Onyshchuk, the head of the regional navy administration.

The Ukrainian Air Force had warned simply earlier than 10 a.m. native time that not less than one Kinzhal hypersonic missile had been fired from a MIG-31 fighter jet, directed at the capital. Nearly as quickly as the air-raid alarm sounded, the white path of an air protection missile might be seen streaking by means of the sky.

Hypersonic weapons can journey not less than 5 occasions the velocity of sound — greater than a mile a second — and maneuver to evade defenses. U.S. officers have stated the Kinzhal meets the definition, although some Western analysts have expressed doubts about its maneuverability.

Debris from a downed missile fell round a kids’s hospital, in response to Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv regional navy administration. He stated in a assertion that there was no speedy details about victims or destruction. The particulars couldn’t instantly be independently verified.

The morning assault on the capital — with air-raid alarms blaring as folks headed to work on a sunny summer season day solely to sprint into train stations and basement shelters for canopy — got here after a transient interval of relative calm in Kyiv, as Russian forces have been directing their costliest missiles at different areas which are much less well-defended.

Ukraine’s advanced air-defense community has change into more and more adept at intercepting Russian missile and drone assaults. But even profitable interceptions pose a hazard: Falling debris has killed a number of folks and induced in depth harm.