BBCThree people were killed in a Russian airstrike on kyiv overnight, Ukrainian officials said.
A ballistic missile landed just before authorities sounded the alarm at 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT), shortly after a previous air raid alert ended.
Visiting the site, in the central district of Shevchenkivskyi, one can see a large crater in the road outside a business center – a tall glass tower which itself is very badly damaged by either a second missile or a very large fragment.
It is unclear what was targeted in the attack, which left other buildings in the area littered with debris and broken glass.
Authorities earlier announced that four people died in the attack.
Next to the main crater, a Ukrainian forensic expert examined missile fragments gathered in a pile of twisted gray metal on the sidewalk.
Andriy Kulchytskyy, head of the military research laboratory at the kyiv Institute of Scientific Expertise, told the BBC that the crater came from a direct impact with an Iskander-M ballistic missile.
“This specific site shows an impact,” he explained. “There are additional strikes, and we picked up some debris. Here the missile hit the road directly.”
“Missile fragments have specific characteristics and markings. By their number you can identify their origin.”
The projectile landed before the warning sirens, because ballistic missiles move so quickly that the sirens cannot react in time, Koultchytsky said.
The business center was empty when the missile hit and was new before 2022 and no one has moved in since.
Everything around, including the local McDonald’s, was also damaged.
A nearby dental clinic was virtually destroyed by the explosion. Inside, staff sift through broken glass and damage, salvaging what they can.
A woman was removing Christmas baubles from a plastic Christmas tree that was still standing.
“It’s happened before,” she told me, “but never as bad as this.”
When asked how she felt, she shrugged: “We got used to it.”
A young man emerging from a nearby building described the explosions early this morning.
“There were three explosions in a row, then a big fire burned in the sky and the building shook. It was very loud,” Oleksandr said.
“I woke up immediately. I even felt the wall shaking. When the third blow came, it was pretty scary.”
By Saturday morning, emergency crews and police were everywhere and the main road had been cordoned off.
Videos posted online showed a car on fire and water rushing down a flooded street immediately afterwards.
Air defenses were operational around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
This is the second deadly attack on kyiv this month. following a strike in the city on New Year’s Day that left two people dead.
Meanwhile, in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, local authorities say six people were injured in a Russian strike on Saturday. A woman is said to be in serious condition.
The strikes are the latest in the war that began after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
They follow several Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory earlier this week.
The latest strikes come just days before Donald Trump’s imminent inauguration in the United States, with many Ukrainians concerned about Trump’s promise to cut U.S. military and financial aid to the troubled country.
The president-elect had affirmed during the campaign that he would end the conflict on the first day of his presidencyalthough he has since said it might take six months.
In recent days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reiterated the country’s dependence on U.S. support as Russian airstrikes and frontline fighting continue.
