MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. A series of explosions rocked Kiev and a number of other Ukrainian cities on Friday. According to local authorities, damage to infrastructure facilities, power outages and transport problems were reported from several regions.
The Russian Defense Ministry was unavailable for comment. TASS has gathered key facts about what happened.
First reports
- An air raid warning was issued in the Sumy and Kharkov Regions shortly before 11:00 p.m. Moscow time (8:00 GMT) on Thursday. The warning was expanded to Nikolayev, Odessa, and Chernigov Regions within an hour.
- First blasts were reported after midnight in Odessa and Chernomorsk. They were reportedly heard in other settlements in the Odessa Region, the Strana media outlet said.
- At about 1:00 a.m. Moscow time on Friday (10:00 p.m. GMT on Thursday) air raid warnings were issued in the Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev, and Kirovograd Regions, as well as in Kiev. Air raid alarms were issued in the Vinnitsa, Zhitomir, and Cherkassy Regions were issued one hour later, and in the Rovno, Kharkov, Khmelnitsky, and Chernovtsy Region in one more hour.
- After 4:00 a.m. Moscow time (1:00 a.m. GMT), air raid warnings were issued in the Volyn, Lvov, and Ternopol Regions in western Ukraine.
- After the alarm call-off, it was reissued several times in a number of regions. An air raid alarm was issues in entire Ukraine after 8:00 a.m. (5:00 a.m. GMT). It stayed in place for two hours.
Kiev
- Explosions were reported in Kiev after 8:00 a.m. Moscow time, according to the city’s Mayor Vitaly Klitschko. Another series of blasts was reported after 9:00 a.m. Moscow time (6:00 a.m. GMT).
- Witnesses told TASS that plumes of smoke were seen in the city’s Solomensky and Shevchenkovsky districts. Explosions were heard near the Artyom defense-industry plant.
- Later, the authorities reported that warehouses were on fire in the Podolsky and Shevchenkovsky districts. The fire area in the Podolsky district reached 3,000 square meters.
- According to Klitschko, one of the central metro stations-Lukyanovskaya - suspended operation. Later, it resumed routine work.
Lvov and Kharkov
- Several blasts were reported in Lvov: after 5:00 a.m. Moscow time (2:00 a.m. GMT), at about 5:30 a.m. Moscow time, after 9:00 a.m. Moscow time (6:00 a.m. GMT), and 10:00 a.m. Moscow time. According to the city’s mayor, Andrey Sadovoy, a critical infrastructure facility caught fire.
- Explosions were reported at critical infrastructure facilities in the Drogobychsky, Stryisky, and Yavoronsky districts, the head of the Lvov region state administration, Maxim Kozitsky, told the Rada television channel.
- The first two powerful blasts rocked Kharkov at about 6:00 a.m. Moscow time (3:00 a.m. GMT), the Ukrinform news agency reported. Kharkov’s Mayor Igor Terekhov wrote about another series of explosions after 8:00 a.m. Moscow time (5:00 a.m. GMT) and 9:00 a.m. Moscow time.
- Terekhov also reported problems with power supplies to transport facilities and damage to an industrial enterprise.
Other cities
- According to the Ukrainian media outlets Zerkalo Nedeli and Obshchestvennoye. Novosti, explosions were heard in Cherkassy, Dnepr (formerly known as Dnepropetrovsk), Zaporozhye, and Odessa, as well as in the Poltava, Ternopol, and Khmelnitsky Regions throughout Friday morning.
- The second and third series of blasts were reported from Odessa and Zaporozhye.
- Public transport operation was suspended in the city of Dnepr, according to Strana.
- Power supplies were cut off in the Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev, Odessa, and Kharkov Regions, the Ukrainian Energy Ministry said.
Reaction from the military
- Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny wrote on his Telegram channel that explosions had occurred at "critical infrastructure, industrial, and military facilities."
- Yury Ignat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, told the Rada TV channel that Ukrainian air defense forces had observed aerial targets practically across the country’s entire airspace.