July 2 (Reuters) – Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with drones and missiles overnight, injuring five as they hit residential buildings and triggering a fire in a hotel on a central boulevard.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on Telegram, said the hotel roof was on fire. Pictures posted online showed a fire burning out of control at the top of the building on the central Shevchenko Boulevard.
In a later post on Telegram, Klitschko said Kyiv also came under ballistic missile attack, with five people injured in one of the central districts. Multiple explosions were heard in Kyiv, a Reuters witness said.
People were trapped in a damaged nine-storey residential building and a roof of another high-rise apartment building was on fire, Klitschko added.
Other pictures on unofficial Telegram channels showed residents crowding into underground stations.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had earlier warned that intelligence reports showed an overnight attack on the country was likely and said he was cutting short his stay in Dublin, which he visited for the start of Ireland’s six-month term in charge of the rotating presidency of the EU.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Jekaterīna Golubkova; Editing by Franklin Paul and Bill Berkrot)
