Ukraine s Zelensky accused Russia of striking the capital immediately after his talks with Antonio Guterres.
At least five cruise missiles targeted Kiev on Thursday evening, President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed, accusing Moscow of carrying out the strike to deliberately humiliate the United Nations as the body's chief visited the Ukrainian capital.
This is a lot about Russia's attitude to global institutions, about the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the UN, and everything that the organization represents, Zelensky said in his Thursday night address.
Ukrainian emergency services were initially announced that an unspecified facility was hit in the Shevchenko district of the city, while a nearby residential building suffered damage to its lower floors. There were no reports of casualties, but Ukrainian authorities later said that at least 10 people were injured inside the damaged 25-story high-rise, while media shared photos of firefighters working at the scene.
According to some reports, the mysterious facility may have been the Artem missile development and production plant, with the Guardian claiming the factory had been evacuated and stood empty since February.
After the evening press conference of Russian military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov, officials in Moscow have yet to make a statement. It wouldn't be the first time that Russia has launched attacks against military facilities in and around Kiev, including at an armored-vehicle manufacturing factory two weeks ago.
On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met Zelensky and toured Kiev and its suburbs, with Ukrainian officials showing him the sites of alleged war crimes committed by Russia. After hearing reports of a new attack on Kiev, the UN chief said it shocked me, not because I am here, but because Kiev is a sacred city for Ukrainians and Russians alike.
On Tuesday, Guterres visited Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Ukrainian crisis. The two discussed the situation on the ground, with Putin explaining to the UN chief Moscow s reasons for launching its military operation in Ukraine.
In late February, Russia attacked the neighboring state after Ukraine failed to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French Minsk Protocol was designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
In a statement from the Kremlin, the Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists that the Russian offensive was unprovoked and has denied that it was planning to retake the two republics by force.