Russia strikes Kyiv during UN chief’s visit as Moscow presses offensive

KYIV – Russian forces pressed their offensive in south and east Ukraine on Friday after bombarding its capital during a visit by the United Nations’ chief.

At least three people were wounded in strikes late Thursday in the western part of Kyiv, the first in the capital in nearly two weeks, which came after Guterres toured Bucha and other suburbs.

Three months into an invasion that failed in its short-term aim of capturing Kyiv, Russia is now intensifying operations in the breakaway eastern Donbas region, as Ukraine’s Western allies supply it with increasingly heavy armaments.

After Moscow’s retreat from Kyiv, dozens of bodies in civilian clothes were found and Ukrainian prosecutors said they have opened investigations into 10 Russian soldiers for suspected atrocities in Bucha and pinpointed more than 8,000 alleged war crimes cases.

Those cases involve “killing civilians, bombing of civilian infrastructure and torture” reported during Russia’s occupation of various parts of Ukraine, prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova told a German TV channel.

In Washington, President Joe Biden Thursday urged US lawmakers to approve a huge $33 billion aid package and proposed new laws to allow using luxury assets stripped from Russian oligarchs to compensate Ukraine for damage inflicted since Moscow invaded on February 24.

“The cost of this fight is not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen,” Biden said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed Biden’s proposal as an “important step” and “necessary.”

In a residential part of Kyiv, AFP correspondents saw one building in flames and black smoke pouring into the air after the Russian strikes.

“I heard the sound of two rockets and two explosions. It was a sound similar to a flying plane, and then two explosions with an interval of three to four seconds,” Oleksandr Stroganov, 34, told AFP.

A Russian military spokesman told reporters that Moscow’s army had conducted air strikes against 38 military targets, but made no immediate mention of Kyiv or the region around the capital.

Guterres, who arrived in Kyiv after talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, called the war “evil” after visiting Bucha and demanded the Kremlin cooperate with an International Criminal Court investigation into the accusations.