Shocking videos out of Kyiv, the capital city in Ukraine, show a missile striking an apartment building Saturday morning, according to reports.
Kyiv Mayor and former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko shared footage of the missile strike to his Facebook.
In his post, Klitschko wrote that the destruction occurred between the building’s 17th – 21st floors and evacuation efforts were underway, according to a Facebook translation. Twelve members of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service and three units of equipment were sent to work at the site on Lobanovsky Avenue in southwest Kyiv, the Ukrinform reports. No deaths have been reported, according to Reuters.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense tweeted another angle of the shelling.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba tweeted a photo of the shelled building and demanded the world “fully isolate Russia, expel ambassadors, oil embargo, ruin its economy.”
“Stop Russian war criminals!” he added.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal tweeted images of the wreckage, claiming that “hospitals, kindergartens, and orphanages in #Ukrainian cities” had been shelled over the past few days. He further called for the world to take a “decisive response” against Russia.
A source with the Russian Defense Ministry told TASS that reports of a Russian missile hitting the apartment building are false, and stated that a Buk-M1 air defense missile actually shelled the structure.
“The reports being disseminated in the social media regarding a Russian missile strike on the residential building at Lobanovskogo Avenue in Kiev are false,” said the source. “The damage to the building indicates an air defense missile impact. It could be seen clearly on the video.”
“Apparently, during the defense against the night missile strike on Ukrainian military infrastructure objects […] the targeting system of a Ukrainian Buk-M1 missile air defense system failed, and the missile hit the corner of the residential building,” the source added.