Harrowing CCTV captures moment Putin missile rips through Kyiv tower block
A RUSSIAN missile ripped through a high-rise block of flats in Kyiv yesterday injuring at least six people — but miraculously no one was killed.
It came as homes and even hospitals in the capital city were heavily pounded as Vladimir Putin’s troops tried to crush Ukraine’s resistance.
Millions of terrified residents were ordered to stay inside or shelter underground amid warning that Putin’s evil onslaught was entering its mostly deadly phase.
CCTV cameras captured the moment the missile slammed into the smart 24-storey tower.
The blast destroyed homes on three floors and left a gaping hole in the building’s side.
The missile blew several flats apart between the 10th and 15th floors.
The tower is home to up to 200 residents in the south-west of Kyiv — close to one of its airports.
The time stamp on the video provided by State Emergency Services of Ukraine showed the horror happened at 08.12am.
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Smoke could be seen billowing from the building from many blocks away as the air was littered with debris.
The casualties included two young children.
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In an emotional video one child is seen being carried out of the building by rescuers as firefighters run past them to get inside.
Around 80 people were evacuated.
Some of those also had to be carried out.
A flurry of emergency service workers rushed to the scene to try and erect scaffolding in a bid to stop the top floors collapsing.
A top section of the building was later demolished.
In a clip of the explosion, one resident of the tower could be heard saying: “We were lucky. It was a direct hit into the living room.”
Another told reporters: “We were in the kitchen. The rocket hit directly in the apartment, in a living room.
“My wife and eldest child have broken legs. The younger was taken away by rescuers.”
It is understood some of the block’s residents had already left the city and were not at home.
Officials were said to be studying the wreckage to try to work out what type of missile was fired and where it came from.
Kyiv’s mayor, ex-boxing champ Vitali Klitschko, posted an image of the wrecked flats and urged city residents to stay in shelters.
He extended a citywide curfew from 5pm to 8am and warned that anyone found on the streets “will be considered members of the enemy’s sabotage and reconnaissance groups”.
One TV reporter in the city during the dawn bombardment said: “The levels of violence raining down from the sky, through the streets of this city, it’s reaching its highest level.”
A second rocket was seen hitting a home as the government said 198 civilians, including three children, had died and more than 1,000 people were injured since Putin unleashed hell with his assaults on Thursday.
America offered Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a chance to flee the city as Russian troops inched closer — but the lionhearted leader refused.
He told them: “The fight is here! I need ammo, not a ride.”
Russian troops attacked from north, south and east after a shock-and-awe missile bombardment designed to knock out Ukraine’s air defences and military command.
But Kremlin plans for a lightning advance to capture Kyiv and topple Zelenskyy were scotched by Ukraine’s ferocious resistance.
Russian armoured columns were fought back on almost all fronts with key Russian targets like the Gostomel airfield changing hands several times.
Dozens of Russian airborne troops and Spetznaz Special Forces were killed.
‘WE WILL OVERCOME THEM’
At least 30 Russian tanks have been destroyed and more than 800 Russian soldiers captured or killed, according to Ukraine.
Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov last night warned that Russia was changing its tactics.
He said: “Russian troops are shelling residential areas, hospitals, educational establishments.”
In Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv, The Sun saw a blood donation centre which had been hit by multiple blasts from a suspected banned cluster bomb.
Medics said a blood donor, who had answered emergency calls for donations, was killed as a he smoked outside.
Three others were injured.
Yet staff said they had more willing donors than they could handle with people waiting hours to support the national cause.
“Why am I giving blood?” asked maths teacher Roma Kinizev, 32.
“There is a war on. It is really scary, but we will be OK. We will overcome them.”
In a separate attack in the east, at least four people died at a hospital and six others were injured, including four medics, when a cluster bomb landed in Vuhledar, in the Donbas region, Human Rights Watch said.
Pictures from the frontline Saltivka district appeared to show a cluster bomb had landed in a children’s playground.
The wail of air-raid sirens were heard across the country as tanks, fast jets and heavy artillery pounded built up areas.
The UK said that most of the Kyiv assault force was still 19 miles from the centre of the capital last night.
Russian forces appeared to be spreading out, with assaults east and west of Kharkiv, which is home to 1.4million people.
In both cities there were warnings that Russian “reconnaissance spotters” had entered to help identify targets to blast.
The Sun met nervous frontline troops in Kharkiv who were expecting to face a fresh assault.
One of the soldiers said: “We know they are planning something. We are ready.”
Echoes of Blitz
A BLITZ spirit is taking hold in the bombed suburbs of Kharkiv on Ukraine’s Eastern Front.
Residents went door to door handing out hot food.
And even as shelling continued last night, they were out in force sweeping up glass, metal and concrete dust.
Others taped up broken windows and blocked the holes with blankets to keep out the cold.
One man handing out food said: “I want to help.”
A woman sweeping said she did not want to live in mess.
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