Drone strike hits Kyiv apartment block, injuring 4 including 2 children

A Russian drone struck a 12-storey residential building in Kyiv on Wednesday evening, sparking a fire and injuring 4 people, including 2 children, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said. The drone hit the building's 10th floor at around 10:23pm local time, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The fire spread to the building's upper floors and caused partial structural damage, covering an area of around 100 square metres, the State Emergency Service said. Firefighters brought the blaze under control and rescued 22 people from the building, including 8 children, before putting it out completely.

Ukrainska Pravda and NV, citing local officials, placed the building in Kyiv's Desnianskyi district. The Kyiv Independent, citing Mayor Klitschko, said the building was in the neighbouring Darnytskyi district. The 4 injured were handed to medics, officials said; further details on their condition were not given.

The strike came at the end of a day of wider Russian attacks on Kyiv. A man was killed and 8 people were injured in a fire in the Solomianskyi district earlier the same day, Ukrainska Pravda reported. A woman's body was found near a burning car after drone debris fell in the Obolonskyi district, the outlet said.

Russian drones and missiles also hit residential buildings in Ukraine's Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, Poltava and Dnipro regions on Wednesday, The Kyiv Independent reported. In Pryluky, in Chernihiv region, a Russian cruise missile destroyed a five-storey building, killing 20 people and injuring 55 more, including 5 children, according to the outlet.

Russia also struck critical infrastructure in Kyiv during the day's attacks, leaving many residents of the capital without electricity or water, The Kyiv Independent reported. The State Emergency Service said emergency crews remained at the scene into the night to assess the building's structural damage before residents could safely return.