Ukraine hit by ‘exceptional’ number of missile and drone strikes 

A massive barrage of air strikes has hit the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as residents were warned to stay away from windows.  

The Ukrainian capital Kyiv has been hit but multiple Russian strikes, which have been described by one of the officials as being “exceptional in density”.  

According to official reports, cited by the BBC on Tuesday, May 16, Ukraine has announced that 18 Russian missiles have been shot down.  

But Russia has claimed that its drones and missiles hit all their targets. 

The sirens of the air raid alert were sounded at around 2.30 am, local time and lasted for two hours.  

Local reports state that an “unusually high number of loud explosions”, were heard around the city centre, as Ukrainian authorities sent online messages to residents warning them that air defence had been activated.  

Valerii Zaluzhny, head of Ukraine’s armed forces said, “Russia attacked Kyiv from the north, south, and east and that 18 air, sea, and land-based missiles had been used.” 

The head of the Ukrainian capital’s military administration, Serhiy Popko said, described the strikes as the “maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time”. 

He further added, “According to preliminary information, the vast majority of enemy targets in the airspace of Kyiv were detected and destroyed”.