Around five people were killed and five others injured in a missile attack on a TV tower in Ukraine's capital city Kyiv, Ukraine's State Service for Emergency Situations confirmed on Tuesday, 1 March.
Sharing a video of the attack, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed that the tower had gone offline and that its substation and hardware had been damaged.
He said engineers would try to fix the tower and broadcasts would restart as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak had said on Facebook that a powerful missile attack on the territory where the Babi Yar memorial complex is located was underway.
Babi Yar, a ravine in Kyiv, is where nearly 34,000 Jews were killed within 48 hours in 1941 when the city was under Nazi occupation. The killing was carried out by SS troops along with local collaborators.
Yermak pointed out that the missiles landed close to Babi Yar and said in a tweet, “Once again these barbarians are murdering the victims of Holocaust."
'History Repeating': Ukraine President Zelenskyy
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said in a tweet, "To the world: what is the point of saying «never again» for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar? At least 5 killed. History repeating…"
Israel’s Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Centre also voiced its “vehement condemnation” of the Russian attack near the site.
It said, “We call on the international community to take concerted measures to safeguard civilian lives as well as these historical sites because of their irreplaceable value for research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov shared a photo on Twitter, saying, "Russia is preparing to launch an info and psycho operation. Its goal is to break the resistance of Ukrainian people and the army. At 1st, they can arrange a breakdown of connection. After-the spread of massive FAKE messages that Ukrainian country leadership has agreed to give up. We’re in Kyiv! No surrender! Only victory!"
Kharkiv's Freedom Square Attacked
On the same day, a series of missile attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city and home to 1.4 million people, were seen, reporting the deaths of at least 10 people, while 35 were wounded.
An administration building in the middle of Kharkiv's Freedom Square was blown up by a missile attack.
Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) shared a video of the attack on Twitter.
The city’s mayor Ihor Terekhov said the toll included the deaths of three children.
He said on his Telegram account, “Today we had a very difficult day. It showed us that it’s not just a war, this is a massacre of Ukrainian people.”
Terekhov added, “The missiles hit residential buildings, killing and injuring peaceful civilians. Kharkiv has not seen such damage for a very long time. And this is horrible.”
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