Three dead after fresh Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv

Russian forces began June with a fresh aerial bombardment of Kyiv killing at least three people and wounding others, authorities said.

Following up on a reported 17 attacks on the Ukrainian capital in May, mostly using drones, Russian forces hit the capital in the early morning on Thursday (1 June) with ground-launched missiles, damaging apartment buildings, a medical clinic, a water pipeline and a car.

Kyiv City Administration reported three people were killed, including a nine-year-old girl and her mother. A third person, a 33-year-old woman, died while she waited to enter an air raid shelter, according to her husband. 10 other people were wounded in the attack.

The casualty toll was the most from one attack on Kyiv in the past month. After a woman was killed watching an aerial attack from her balcony earlier this week, Kyiv authorities urged residents to stay in shelters or other safe locations.

Ukraine’s air defences have become increasingly effective at intercepting Russian drones and missiles, but in some cases the resulting debris causes fires and injuries in buildings and on the ground. Preliminary indications were that Kyiv’s air defences intercepted all incoming weapons early on Thursday, and that the latest deaths and injuries were caused by falling debris.

On Wednesday (31 May), Russian forces carried out three aerial attacks over the south of Kherson region, along with missile and heavy artillery strikes on other parts of the region. That same day Russian security council's Dmitry Medvedev claimed the UK’s support for Ukraine in the ongoing conflict amounts to an “undeclared war” against Russia.