On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that it had carried out a “high-precision” air strike on Kyiv, while United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting the Ukrainian capital.
During its daily briefing on the crisis, the ministry said that long-range and high-precision air weapons of the Russian Air Force destroyed the premises of the Artyom Missile and Aerospace Company in Kyiv.
First hits of its kind
Kyiv was subjected to Russian bombardment, Thursday evening, coinciding with the visit of the highest UN official, in the first strikes of its kind targeting the capital since mid-April, according to AFP correspondents.
AFP reporters also saw fire engulfing a floor in one of the capital’s buildings and smashed windows, while large numbers of security and ambulance personnel were deployed in the place.
Explosives over his head.
For his part, the Director of the Office of the Ukrainian President, Mikhailo Podolyak, confirmed Thursday that the capital, Kyiv, witnessed missile strikes during the official visit of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.
“Rocket strikes in the center of Kyiv during the official visit of Antonio Guterres. The day before he was sitting at a long table in the Kremlin, today the explosives are above his head,” Podolyak wrote on his official Twitter account.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov commented on the bombing, considering it an “attack on the security of the Secretary-General and the security of the world.”
Ukrainian criticism of Guterres
It is noteworthy that the Secretary-General of the United Nations had arrived in Ukraine, after a visit, on Tuesday, to Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in order to discuss the conflict between the two countries, push for calm, and specifically the evacuation of civilians from the city of Mariupol.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the vicinity of Kyiv (AFP)
While the Ukrainian presidency sharply criticized him, due to the schedule of that visit, which was supposed to start in Kiev, according to Zelensky, who said during one of his video speeches, commenting on the visit of the UN official, “I do not see corpses in the streets of Moscow,” referring to the destruction and death. Which hit the Ukrainian capital, which requires a strong message of support from the United Nations, embodied by visiting it first.
It is noteworthy that since the start of the Russian military operation on the territory of its western neighbor, the United Nations has condemned the fighting and conflict, while Western countries have lined up with Kyiv, supporting it with weapons and equipment, against Moscow, which has imposed thousands of sanctions.
