[At least one person has been killed and several embassies have been damaged in an early morning Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. The Kyiv City Military Administration confirmed the death and reported 12 others injured, five of whom were hospitalized while the rest were treated at the scene.
The attack comes a day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin challenged Ukraine to a “duel” in his end-of-year conference, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to call the Russian leader a “dumbass.” According to Ukraine’s Air Force Command, Russia fired five ballistic missiles at Kyiv at around 7 a.m. on Friday, all of which were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses. However, falling debris caused damage and injuries in the city center, officials said.
Several embassies housed in the same building were damaged, including those of Albania, Argentina, Palestine, North Macedonia, Portugal, and Montenegro. Portugal’s foreign ministry said the facility suffered light damage and summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires to protest.
Russia’s defense ministry said it launched long-range missiles at Ukrainian military targets on Friday in response to a Ukrainian attack targeting a chemical plant in Russia’s Rostov region earlier this week. The Ukrainian attack was carried out using American-made ATACMS missiles, the ministry said.
In a statement on Telegram, Russia’s Ministry of Defense wrote that it launched a group strike against the SBU command post, the Kyiv Luch design bureau, which designs and manufactures Neptune missile systems, Olkha ground-based cruise missiles, and the positions of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system. The ministry reported that all objects were hit.
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