Kyiv struck by Russian shelling, Ukraine says at least two killed

By Omer Berberoglu

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s capital Kyiv came under Russian bombardment overnight, and images released by the country’s State Emergency Service on Tuesday showed a high-rise apartment block in flames after being struck.

Firefighters tried to douse the flames and rescue workers helped to evacuate residents trapped in the building using mobile ladders.

Emergency services said earlier that two people were killed when a residential building was attacked. It was not immediately clear if it was the same block.

In another part of the city, Reuters witnesses saw residents clearing debris from their homes after shelling blew out windows, ruined balconies and left wreckage strewn across the ground.

Kyiv has been spared the worst of the fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, but the Russian military is slowly closing in on the city and the shelling has intensified.

Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict and millions more displaced.

Russia, which denies targeting civilians, calls its actions a “special military operation” to “denazify” the country, a claim that Ukraine and its allies reject as a pretext for an unjustified and illegal attack.