At least two dead and 11 injured as Ukraine’s forces defend against ballistic missiles, drones targeting capital city.

Kyiv came under a ballistic missile and drone attack overnight, with at least two people killed and 11 injured after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of an impending “massive” attack by Russia.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing ⁠on the Telegram messaging platform, said the roof of a hotel was on fire early on Thursday morning.

Pictures posted online showed a fire burning out of control at the top of the ‌building on the central Shevchenko Boulevard.

“Kyiv is under attack from ballistic missiles and UAVs,” Klitschko wrote, using the acronym for unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.

Klitschko later said that 11 people were injured, with others trapped ⁠in a damaged nine-storey residential building, and the roof of another high-rise apartment building on fire.

The AFP news agency later said two people had been killed in the attacks, according to city authorities.

Pictures ⁠shared on unofficial Telegram channels showed city residents crowding into underground stations to shelter from the Russian strikes.

Journalists with AFP in the central and eastern districts of Kyiv reported hearing more than a dozen explosions as Ukraine’s Air Force warned that ballistic missiles were approaching the city.

In the streets, residents were seen making their way to shelters, carrying sleeping mats under their arms, according to AFP.

Zelenskyy issues warning before Russian attack

The strikes on Kyiv came just hours after Zelenskyy warned of an imminent “massive Russian strike” and urged Ukrainians to take shelter.

“Today, we have information about another massive Russian strike; we have relevant intelligence data,” Zelenskyy said during a joint news conference in Dublin with Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin on Wednesday.

In a post on X, Zelenskyy said: “Immediately after this conversation, I am returning to Ukraine”.

He called on citizens to be “especially careful” and “stay safe and protect your families and children” by heeding air raid alerts.

“We know that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has been preparing a massive strike against Ukraine for some time. That is exactly the threat we are facing tonight,” he added.

Zelenskyy also accused Russia of “completely refusing to end the war” it launched in February 2022, despite Ukrainian efforts through “all possible official and unofficial channels” to convey readiness for “meetings and meaningful negotiations”.

Putin “sees only further aggression against Ukraine and against other neighbours and Europe as a whole”, Zelenskyy said.