Russian missiles rain down on Ukraine before start of new school term

“Air defense forces destroyed more than a dozen cruise missiles and about a dozen ballistic missiles and an attack drone in the sky above Kyiv,” said Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv city’s military administration, in a morning statement on Monday.

According to Popko, the attack caused multiple fires as debris fell in four districts of Kyiv. Two people were wounded.

Kyiv was not the only target for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces overnight.

Russian troops launched, in total, 35 cruise and ballistic missiles and 23 drones at Kyiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions. Ukraine’s Air Force reported shooting down 22 missiles and 20 drones.

In Sumy, a region bordering Russia’s Kursk where Ukraine is conducting its own cross-border incursion, Russian forces struck a center for social and psychological rehabilitation of orphans, the local military administration reported.

“There were no children in the institution at that time. However, 18 residents of nearby houses were injured, including six children, nine women and three men,” the local prosecutor’s office announced.

After the attack in Kyiv was repelled, the sound of music replaced blasts and explosions as hundreds of kids went back to school, celebrating the start of another year of studies.

“There will be an answer for everything. The enemy will feel it,” the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, posted on his Telegram page following the attack.