Russian ballistic missiles hit Kyiv: one killed and 14 injured, a university dormitory damaged and the Southern Bridge closed, Ukrainian officials say

A Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv late on 26 October killed at least one person and injured at least ten, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, with damage reported to a university dormitory, a school, a metro station area and residential buildings. By the morning of 27 October the toll cited by the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform had risen to one person killed and 14 injured, and the Southern Bridge across the Dnipro had been closed for a damage assessment. The account below is Ukraine’s; no Russian statement on the strike was found in the sources read.

What Ukrainian officials reported

The Ukrainian Air Force warned of a ballistic missile threat from the direction of Bryansk and detected several missiles heading for the capital, Ukrinform reported, and an air raid alert was declared in Kyiv and several regions. Klitschko and the Kyiv City Military Administration then reported the effects district by district. In the Desnianskyi district a strike landed near a dormitory belonging to a university, shattering its windows, and a school building was damaged. Klitschko said most of the injured were students from the dormitory, and that nine of the ten injured at that point had been taken to hospital.

A wire agency report carried by the Korea Herald said the dead person was found near a supermarket and by a heavily damaged apartment building, and that the dormitory belonged to the State Trade and Economics University on the left bank of the Dnipro. Later Ukrinform items said a 46-year-old woman had died and 14 people had been injured across six districts.

Southern Bridge and metro

On the morning of 27 October Klitschko wrote on Telegram that the Southern Bridge was closed to traffic while specialists assessed the damage, and that metro services between the Osokorky and Chervony Khutir stations were suspended, according to Ukrinform.

Zelensky’s statement

President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram, as quoted by Ukrinform, that the missiles struck the grounds of a Kyiv university, Kyoto Park, the area near a metro station and residential buildings, and that there were casualties and rescue operations were continuing. He said the missiles fell in crowded areas with no military facilities nearby, and warned that repeat strikes were possible. He linked the attack to air defence, saying that delays by air defence forces and partners only “aid the terrorists”, and asked partners to give Ukraine the tools to destroy Russian ballistic missile launchers. That is the Ukrainian president’s characterisation and position, not a finding by an independent body.

For the earlier overnight picture, see Geopolitiki’s report on Zelensky pressing for Patriot interceptors as Ukraine’s Air Force reports 140 drones and four missiles overnight, and on the diplomatic track, Zelensky: territory only at leaders’ level in the November trilateral talks, with a US-Ukraine-EU-NATO meeting planned in Brussels.

Sources read: Ukrinform reports of 27 October on the attack, on the Southern Bridge and on Zelensky’s statement (Ukrinform live report, Southern Bridge) and a wire agency report published by the Korea Herald.