Frightened pedestrians hurried to get off the streets of Ukraine’s capital and into underground shelters on Monday morning as Russian forces launched a rare daytime missile attack on Kyiv.

Air-raid alarms sounded shortly after 11am (local time), sending parents racing to get their children to safety and hospital workers to take cover in bomb shelters. Powerful explosions echoed around the city within minutes, as Ukrainian air defences sprung into action.

All 11 missiles directed at Kyiv were shot down, Ukrainian officials said. Falling debris caused some damage in various parts of the city and information about possible casualties was still being clarified, the authorities said.

While Russian forces have launched overnight aerial attacks on Kyiv more than a dozen times this month — including earlier on Monday — the mid-morning assault marked the first daytime air raid in many weeks.

“Just six hours after the night attack” Russia again launched missiles at Kyiv, Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv regional military administration, said in a statement. “After long, exclusively nocturnal attacks,” Popko said, Russian forces “struck a peaceful city during the day, when most of the residents were at work and on the streets.”

Rescue and fire crews were later dispatched to put out fires caused by falling debris that landed on a major roadway in the capital. The Kyiv administration said it was working to clear debris.

Monday marked the 16th time this month that Ukraine’s capital has come under attack. While Russia has deployed attack drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, the assaults have largely failed to inflict significant damage.

New York Times News Service