Russia launched missiles throughout Ukraine on Thursday, including one that hit Kyiv as the UN Secretary-General was there, in the most audacious attack on the capital since Moscow's forces withdrew weeks ago.
According to Ukrainian officials, one of the two missiles fired at Kiev hit the lower floors of a 25-story residential structure, injuring at least ten people.
The attack occurred less than an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a press conference with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who stated that Ukraine had become "an epicentre of unimaginable anguish and pain."
According to the UN Secretary-spokeswoman, General's one of the Russian missiles that attacked Kyiv struck near the hotel where the UN head is staying.
Fortunately, the UN team was meeting with the prime minister in his office at the time and was not in the hotel.
The bombs, which occurred only hours after US Vice President Joe Biden promised a doubling of US military and economic aid to Ukraine, targeted the central Shevchenko neighbourhood, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Guterres and his staff, according to a spokeswoman, are safe.
According to rescue personnel, at least one person was murdered and several others were injured, including several who were trapped beneath the rubble.
Kyiv was one of several Ukrainian cities attacked by Russian airstrikes. Explosions were reported around the country, including in Polonne in the west, Chernihiv near the Belarussian border, and Fastiv, a major railway hub southwest of the city.
Rockets were intercepted by air defences, according to the mayor of Odesa, in southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials also reported heavy Russian fire in the Donbas, the eastern industrial heartland that the Kremlin claims is its main goal, and near Kharkiv, a northeastern city outside the Donbas that is viewed as crucial to the attack.
The new attacks came as Guterres examined the devastation in little towns outside the capital that witnessed some of the worst tragedies of the war's first onslaught.
He denounced the atrocities done in communities such as Bucha, where evidence of mass executions of people was discovered when Russia withdrew in early April in the face of surprisingly strong opposition.
"Wherever there is a war, civilians pay the highest price," the UN head said.
During his nightly video speech, Zelenskyy reiterated his commitment to hold Russian soldiers accountable for the crimes they commit, saying of the ten identified earlier on Thursday, "Some of them may not, after all, live until a trial and just punishment." But only for one reason: this Russian brigade has been relocated to Kharkiv. Our military will retaliate against them there."
The blasts in Kyiv's northern Shevchenkivsky district occurred as inhabitants were returning to the city in greater numbers.
Cafes and other businesses have reopened, and an increasing number of people have been out and about, taking advantage of the mild weather.
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