Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on Monday morning, with US Ambassador Bridget Brink writing on X that she observed "Loud explosions in Kyiv" as "Again this morning Russia is attacking Ukraine with hypersonic missiles. Loud explosions in Kyiv. Over the last five days, Russia has launched hundreds of missiles and drones against a sovereign country."
So far at least seven people have been reported inured, and a three story building in the central part of the city has been severely damaged.
"Next to the destroyed premises of the state educational institution is a dormitory where there were many people. Fortunately, there was no damage, and no one was injured.” Russia's use of hypersonic missiles against the capital remains very rare, showing that Moscow intends to escalate in light of recent Ukrainian cross-border attacks.
A report in Kyiv Post strongly suggests this may have been an attempted so-called decapitation strike which aims to take out Ukraine's military and intelligence top echelons:
Kyiv Post’s sources within the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have confirmed that two ballistic missiles were launched from Russian-occupied Crimea toward Kyiv on Monday and were aimed at the SBU offices.
Today, March 25, Ukraine is observing the Day of the Security Service of Ukraine. According to sources from the Kyiv Post, the missiles were aimed at the premises where high-ranking SBU officials are located.
Russian army launched several hypersonic missiles from occupied Crimea. They covered the distance of 580 km to Kyiv in 3 minutes at an estimated speed of 11,600 km/h (7,200mph). Hence the air raid siren system did not turn on in time. Suspected to be Zircon cruise missiles.
The major strike also appeared a retaliation attack coming on the heels of Ukraine's military declaring a successful attack on two Russian warships and a communications center in Crimea on Sunday. That attack had also involved Russian anti-air defenses downing at least ten inbound missiles over the port of Sevastopol as the Ukrainian operation unfolded.
More large-scale Russian airstrikes deeper into Ukraine are expected given the ongoing Ukrainian strikes against Russian oil refineries, with the latest such attack happening Saturday but coming to light in international press via Reuters on Monday. "Rosneft’s Kuibyshev oil refinery in Samara, Russia halted CDU-5, one of its two primary refining units, Reuters reports, citing two people familiar with the matter," Bloombergreports of this latest.
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