Russia has fired a barrage of missiles at Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, hours before thousands of children returned to school for the first day of the academic year.
The mayor, Vitali Klitschko, says a water treatment plant and the entrance of a metro station used as a shelter were hit. Two schools and a university were also damaged.
According to Ukraine’s military, 22 cruise and air ballistic missiles were destroyed by the air force.
Local authorities say three people were injured by debris from destroyed missiles.
For schoolchildren across the capital, Monday’s bombardment coincided with the first day of the school year, a day of celebration in Ukraine.
Teachers and parents tried to keep a sense of normality, with music playing while smiling students were welcomed by a sea of flowers.
One parent, who hid with her daughter at home during the missile attack before taking her to school, said they were showing once more “that this nation is invincible”.
“Children are smiling, but you can see the strain on the faces of their teachers [who] carry this burden”, she told the BBC.
“I’m so thankful to them for all they did to make it a real holiday for the kids.”
For 33-year-old Yevheniia, who was taking her six-year-old daughter to school for the first time, the day was marred by fear.
“Her hands were shaking,” Yevheniia told the Reuters news agency.
“Our apartment started to stink of smoke, but we still need to go to school, right? We are Ukrainians,” she said she told her daughter that morning.
Alina, a student at the damaged university, told Ukrainian TV she “started screaming” when the air raid alert sounded, with everyone running into their dormitory’s bomb shelter.
Air raid sirens rang out for nearly two hours during the attack, before the skies were deemed clear by the military.
“We were very scared,” Alina said, adding they saw a fire following the sound of explosions.
Following the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the first day of school “one of the most important days of the year” for children, and their families and teachers.
“All our schools, all higher education institutions that are working today are proof of the resilience of our people and the strength of Ukraine,” he said on his Telegram channel.
All of Ukraine was placed on alert for several hours, and neighbouring Nato state Poland said it had deployed its own as well as allied aircraft to secure its airspace during the Russian strikes. (BBC).
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