Blasts reported as Ukraine says missile attack targets capital Kyiv 

At least one person has been killed and seven wounded after a Russian missile attack targeted Ukraine’s capital.

The attack on Friday morning also damaged buildings across Kyiv and sparked fires in some, according to the head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko.

Russia launched eight missiles on Kyiv, Popko said, adding that it used hypersonic Kinzhal missiles and Iskander/KN-23 ballistic missiles to carry out the attack.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defences were operating following a missile attack which Russia said was in “response” to this week’s Ukrainian strikes using Western missiles on a chemical plant in southern Russia.

“In response to the actions of the Kyiv regime, supported by its Western handlers, a combined strike with long-range precision weapons was launched today,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement.

Media reports in Ukraine, quoting witnesses on the ground, said a series of loud blasts were heard in Kyiv and smoke could be seen rising over part of the city.

“Ballistic missile from the north!” the Ukrainian Air Force warned in a Telegram message.

Local media outlet the Kyiv Independent said several explosions took place at about 7am (05:00 GMT). It quoted Klitschko as saying that “multiple cars were on fire in the Holosiivskyi district of the city due to the falling debris from a missile”.

Fires also broke out in the Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts of Kyiv, as well as at a construction site in the Dnipro district.

The city mayor said at least seven people were wounded, four of whom were taken to hospital.

Prior to the air raid, the Ukrainian Air Force warned that a MiG-31 Russian fighter jet capable of firing hypersonic missiles had taken off from a Russian airbase, the Kyiv Independent reported.

Later on Friday, Ukraine’s Air Force said it downed five ballistic missiles and 40 drones, with a further 20 drones failing to reach their targets.

On Thursday, at an end-of-year media conference, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin proposed a “high-tech duel” with Kyiv and suggested he would test his claims that Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile is impervious to air defences.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted the provocation, calling Putin’s entourage “thugs”.

Al Jazeera’s Defence Editor Alex Gatopoulos, reporting from the Ukrainian city of Odesa, said Russia’s attack was a direct consequence of the two presidents trading barbs.

“Putin said we can get through and we will get through, and they’ve shown today that they are able to,” Gatopoulos said.

Air raid alerts were issued twice during the night in Kyiv due to drone attacks. The city authorities stated that the air defence intercepted all drones and that debris fell in the Desnianskyi district.

In southern Ukraine, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Ukrainian soldiers repelled Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups overnight as they attempted to advance towards the city of Kherson, the Kyiv Independent reported.

Prokudin said Russian forces targeted residential areas and critical infrastructure. One person was killed, and at least nine others were injured, according to local authorities quoted by the news outlet.

Russian troops have been carrying out attacks in the southern Ukrainian region to gain a foothold on islands in the Dnipro River delta.