The fear and scare of what is happening in Ukraine are only increasing for the residents of the capital Kyiv as the battle continues on the ground. Now, Russia on Tuesday launched an “exceptional” aerial assault against Kyiv which was shot down by Ukrainian air defence systems thus saving people, reported CNN. However, Kyiv residents had no idea that the terrifying sounds were Ukrainian air defence systems taking down Russian missiles while they thought of going to any available bombshelter near them.
Most of the night was spent in hiding in their hallway by Liudmyla Kravchenko, her husband, and their two kids. “There’s no bombshelter nearby, the underground station is quite far from us … I think it’s even more dangerous to try to get there during the bombardment,” she said, as quoted by CNN.
She stated that while her family doesn’t always take shelter during air raid alarms, last night was different. “It was very scary, so after we heard the first explosions we rushed to the corridor … of course in case the missile hits our house directly, none of this will save our lives - not two walls, not three, not even five,” she said, as quoted by CNN.
Kravchenko told CNN that her nine-year-old daughter is so used to air raids that she knows “to drop everything and take cover” when her parents tell her to. “My wife counted over 30 explosions and we saw dozens of launches by the Ukrainian air defense from our balcony. It was so fast, we didn’t even have time to get to a shelter,” Tymofiy Mylovanov, a presidential adviser and head of the Ukrainian School of Economics, said on Twitter.
In a Telegram post, Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said that the barrage of missiles on Tuesday was the eighth assault on Kyiv in May. He said the attack came from multiple directions and was “exceptional in its density, with the maximum number of attacking missiles in the shortest time possible,” as reported by CNN
He further said that most of the Russian munition failed to hit their marks after being detected and destroyed by Ukraine’s defence systems despite the intensity. Mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko claims that at least three individuals were hurt. Early reports of damage, according to the authorities, were limited; in one part of the capital, a structure and several vehicles caught fire as a result of falling debris. According to Klitschko, some debris that landed on the Kyiv Zoo grounds damaged some of the greenery but did not harm any of the animals. The mayor also said that on Tuesday, the zoo would be open as usual, as reported by CNN.