The attack came after repeated Ukraine aerial attacks in recent days on Russia’s Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine. On Thursday, five people were injured in the latest attack on the Belgorod region, which damaged homes and the city sports stadium, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it stopped 10 rockets over the region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had threatened Wednesday to “respond in kind” to the attacks.
At an event in the Kremlin, Putin said Russia “can respond in the same way regarding civilian infrastructure and all other objects of this kind that the enemy attacks. We have our own views on this matter and our own plans. We will follow what we have outlined.”
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the country’s Western partners to send more air defense systems so they can be distributed across the country where missile strikes have become more common.
“Every day, every night such … terror happens,” he said on Telegram after Thursday’s attack on Kyiv. “World unity is capable to stop it by helping us with more air defense systems.”
Zelenskyy said Russia doesn’t have missiles that can evade U.S.-made Patriots and other advanced air defense weapons.
Russia has largely turned its attention to other Ukrainian cities, targeting them with drones and ballistic missiles.
On Wednesday, Russian ballistic missiles killed five people and injured nine in the eastern Kharkiv region, and strike on southern Odesa last week killed 21.