A Russian attack on a television tower in Kyiv killed five and injured others, officials said.
The Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) said television channels would be down for a while after an explosion rocked the communications tower in the centre of the capital.
Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the ministry, posted footage of the attack on social media. Pictures showed bodies at the site of the blast. The TV tower was shown still standing though parts of the metal structure appeared to have been torn off and blown several metres. Local reporter Illia Ponomarenko said the the city authorities had promised to fix the damage as soon as possible.
The MIA said no staff were hurt in the attack.
Mr Gerashchenko said the explosion hit a memorial site for the Babin Yar mass shootings, a Nazi massacre which killed more than 30,000 Jewish people over two days in 1941. Moment blast hit TV tower in Kyiv"
He said in a Telegram post: “Russian occupation forces have done unthinkable - they have bombed jewish tombs at [Babin Yar].
“This place was the scene of possibly the largest shooting massacre during the Holocaust.”
Ukraine officials shared footage of bodies at site of TV tower blast
(Pravda_Gerashchenko/Telegram)“To tell you the truth, I haven’t had right words and indignation for such deed. If this isn’t fascism - what is it?” The Russian Defence Ministry earlier said it was planning to strike targets in Kyiv used by Ukrainian security services.
The strikes aimed to prevent “information attacks” on Russia, the ministry said as it warned residents of the capital to flee their homes. In Moscow, defence minister Sergei Shoigu said the Kremlin would press its military operation in Ukraine until it achieves its goal of bolstering Russian security to protect from threats by the West.
The plan was not to occupy Ukraine, he said.
This map shows the extent of Russia’s attack on Ukraine (PA)Britain’s defence ministry said that intelligence showed the Russian advance on Kyiv had made little progress in the past 24 hours, probably due to logistical problems.
But it also warned that Russia was risking more civilian casualties in urban areas.
Credit: The Independent