Ukraine war: Russia admits raining missiles on Kyiv during UN chief’s visit
- Ukraine President Zelensky said attack on Kyiv, which killed a journalist, came immediately after his talks with Antonio Guterres
- The Russian campaign in Ukraine has refocused on seizing the east and south of the country
Russia confirmed on Friday it carried out an air strike on Kyiv during a visit by the UN chief, the first such attack on the Ukrainian capital in nearly two weeks and one that killed a journalist.
Vera Gyrych, a producer for the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, died when a Russian missile slammed into the house where she lived in Kyiv, the media group said of the strike. It said Gyrych had worked for Radio Liberty since 2018.
“She was going to bed when a Russian ballistic missile hit her apartment in central Kyiv. Russia’s barbarism is incomprehensible,” Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said. “We call on media organisations to condemn the murder of Vera and all other innocent Ukrainians.”
Russia’s defence ministry said it had deployed “high-precision, long-range air-based weapons” that it added “have destroyed the production buildings of the Artyom missile and space enterprise in Kyiv”.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes, which immediately followed his talks with Guterres, were an attempt by Russia “to humiliate the UN and everything that the organisation represents”.
Earlier that day, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had toured Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv where Moscow is alleged to have committed war crimes. Russia denies killing civilians.
Germany slammed the “inhumane” attack that showed Russian President Vladimir Putin has “no respect whatsoever for international law”.
