Kyiv tower fire likely from missile strike, mayor says

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a fire broke out in a 20-storey residential building after explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital shortly after midnight on Wednesday during an air raid alert.

AFP reporters heard the blasts after Ukraine's air force reported several ballistic missiles approaching. Klitschko said the cause of the fire was "likely a missile strike" and said warehouses were also hit.

Ukraine has in recent months urged allies to provide more US-made Patriot missile interceptors to protect its airspace against Russian ballistic attacks. President Volodymyr Zelensky has said a lack of ballistic missile interceptors "only encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives".

Russian attacks on Kyiv and its suburbs on Saturday killed 10 people and wounded more than 30. One damaged building was Lithuania's embassy and another was a five-storey residential building. Russia said Saturday's attack struck "military-industrial complex industries and logistics centres".

Ukrainian drones sank a large Russian container ship in the Black Sea, according to the AFP account. Both sides have increased long-range attacks in recent weeks, and Russia more than doubled its use of missiles in July, according to AFP analysis.

UN human rights monitors have voiced concern about rising civilian casualties, which they said have reached their highest levels since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Zelensky met US President Donald Trump last Tuesday partly to lobby Washington for licences to produce Patriots domestically.