One person was killed and at least six were injured in a Russian missile attack that hit a block of residential apartments in Kyiv. The city’s deputy mayor, Volodymyr Bondarenko, said four of the injured were admitted to hospital while search and rescue operations continue.
Bondarenko also said a kindergarten was hit in the missile attack, but no one was injured, and a video from Ukraine’s Interior Ministry showed a large missile funnel in the backyard. the nursery.
Among the injured in the residential block was a 7-year-old girl, he said. Her mother, a 35-year-old woman named Katerina, was rescued from the rubble and taken to an ambulance. She is a citizen of Russia, but had lived in Kyiv for a long time.
A CNN team on the ground spoke to the injured girl’s grandmother, Natalia Nikitina, who learned of the online attack and rushed to the apartment block, where she cried as she watched the equipment that they were trying to rescue his daughter-in-law.
“There’s nothing worse than losing loved ones. Why do we deserve this?” she said. A huge column of smoke continued to leave the building two hours after the strike, while almost all the windows jumped to the top floor and the floor was covered in rubble and twisted metal.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said “strategic bombers” were used to strike the capital, with “between four and six missiles” fired. He added that on Saturday, Russia had used long-range Tu22M3 bombers from Belarusian airspace for the first time in a Ukrainian air strike.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko told Telegram that there had been several explosions in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district and that search and rescue operations began after a fire broke out when a rocket hit a building. residential.
“There are people trapped under the rubble. Some neighbors have been evacuated, with two victims hospitalized. Lifeguards continue their work,” he said.
Speaking to CNN, Klitschko said Russia’s war against Ukraine was “foolish” and that thousands of civilians had died, adding: “We must do everything we can to stop this war.”
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said the fire was caused by “enemy projects” and had an area of †‹вЂ‹ 300 square meters, in “a 9-storey residential building with partial destruction of 7 floors. 9 and 9 “.
The same neighborhood was hit by a missile attack in early May, and was also attacked in March.
Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the Interior Minister, told Ukrainian television that there are “a number of military infrastructure facilities located in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the Ukrainian capital. This is the reason why Russians are bombing this district. “
U.S. President Joe Biden called Sunday’s attack “more [Russian] barbarism. “He refused to answer when asked if the strikes were a deliberate provocation during the G7 summit.
The Russian offensive continues in eastern Ukraine
After Ukraine confirmed on Saturday that the key city of Severodonetsk was “completely under Russian occupation,” the eastern Luhansk region of the country is now almost completely under Russian control. However, Ukrainian forces continue to defend the neighboring city of Lysychansk, which is suffering more and more Russian artillery and rocket attacks.
On Sunday, the head of the military administration of the neighboring Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said Russian forces were gathering for further assaults in the region, almost half of which are under Ukrainian control.
“We are now witnessing the accumulation of labor, heavy armored vehicles and artillery in the direction of Sloviansk,” Kyrylenko told Ukrainian television.
“The enemy is using his well-known tactics, trying to approach our line of defense to fire artillery against the cities. Enemy artillery is already reaching certain parts of Sloviansk. This is another confirmation that people should to evacuate “.
Throughout the offensive to the east, Russian forces have used heavy artillery and rocket bombardment before attempting to land. They are attacking areas of Donetsk from three directions.
Kyrylenko said there had been a missile attack and rocket attacks in Kurakhove, a city on the southern front of Donetsk that has been the target of Russian attacks for more than two months. Avdiivka had also been hit by rockets, he said.
As Russian forces intensify the momentum of their offensive in eastern Ukraine, the city of Kharkiv and the surrounding areas have once again suffered a growing artillery fire.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu also visited Russian troops involved in what the Kremlin has called the special military operation in Ukraine, according to the Defense Ministry.
The video released by the RIA Novosti news agency shows Shoigu disembarking from a helicopter at an unknown location and meeting with officers inside what appears to be a command center.
The Russian Defense Ministry’s Telegram channel said Shoigu “listened to the commanders’ reports on the current situation and the actions of the Russian Armed Forces in the main operational areas of the command posts.”
Shoigu is also seen awarding medals to several soldiers, including “the Gold Star medals of the Hero of the Russian Federation and the Order of Courage,” according to the Telegram publication. It is not clear exactly what places Shoigu visited and whether they were within Ukraine.
Putin says Russia will supply nuclear-capable missiles to Belarus
Russia will transfer nuclear-powered Iskander-M missile systems to Belarus in the coming months, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting in St. Petersburg on Saturday.
“In the coming months, we will transfer Iskander-M tactical missile systems to Belarus, which, as you know, can use both ballistic and cruise missiles, both in conventional and nuclear versions,” Putin told Lukashenko, according to the Kremlin. .
In a transcript of the meeting, Lukashenko expressed to Putin his “stress” and concerns and alleged that they are flights from U.S. and NATO planes “training to carry nuclear warheads” near the U.S. border of Belarus.
Lukashenko asked Putin to consider “a mirror response” to the flights or to convert Russia’s Su-35 fighter jets, which are currently deployed in Belarus, so that “they can carry nuclear warheads.”
Putin responded that while it is possible to match American flights, “there is no need,” and suggested that because the Belarussian army has a large number of Su-25 aircraft that can be converted into nuclear-capable aircraft. .
The Iskander-M is a Russian-built short-range ballistic missile system that can carry conventional or nuclear warheads with a maximum range of up to 500 km (310 miles), according to Janes Defense.
On Saturday, Ukraine said it had been hit by attacks launched from Belarusian airspace for the first time.
The G7 announces a ban on importing Russian gold
President Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson officially announced on Sunday that G7 countries will ban the import of Russian gold, the country’s second largest export after energy.
Biden tweeted the announcement on Sunday in Germany: “The United States has imposed unprecedented costs on Putin for denying him the revenue he needs to finance his war against Ukraine. Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban the import of Russian gold , a major export worth tens of billions of dollars to Russia. “
Biden also stressed the unity of the G7 and NATO in Ukraine and the Russian invasion, and told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that the G7 and NATO will stay together and not “split.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the price of allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to “continue his program of conquest” is much higher than the current cost.
“The price of retreating, the price of allowing Putin to succeed, pirating large parts of Ukraine, continuing his program of conquest, that price will be much, much higher. Everyone here understands that,” Johnson said in a interview on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Germany.
CNN’s Allie Malloy, Mariya Knight, Jonny Hallam, Josh Pennington and Teele Rebane contributed to this report.