Russia bombards Kyiv in one of war’s biggest strikes, at least 21 people killed

DAY OF MOURNING ANNOUNCED IN KYIV

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a day of mourning in Kyiv for Friday. He said that damage was recorded across the entire city of about 3 million people, with some buildings heavily damaged.

Katarina Mathernova, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, said that “Russia unleashed hell on Kyiv” overnight, and had struck accommodation used by diplomatic personnel. Diplomats were unharmed, but their belongings were damaged in the fire that engulfed the building, she said.

More than 600 rescuers weresifting through the rubble at several sites across the city and the work would continue through the night, the emergency services officials said.

City officials said that more than 90 people, including children, paramedics and drivers at an ambulance station, were wounded and that some people were still trapped inside damaged residential buildings.

“Our house is on fire. Oleg was pulling our neighbour out of the burning house, while I was phoning all the emergency services during the explosions,” Iryna Plekhova, a Kyiv resident, said on Facebook, posting a picture of a half-destroyed apartment building with no windows.

“We do not have an apartment anymore.”

The National Institute of Biochemistry was among many buildings damaged: its state-of-the-art biochemistry laboratory and other offices were gutted during the attack.

“This is a catastrophe for medical and biological science of Ukraine,” biologist Yurii Danylovych told Reuters.

Ukraine’s neighbour Poland, a NATO and EU member, briefly scrambled fighter jets as a preventive measure. Finland also briefly issued a temporary aviation restriction zone in the eastern Gulf of Finland, its defence forces said.