Ukraine invasion: Five killed as Russian missile strikes TV tower in Kyiv

A Russian attack on a television tower in Kyiv killed five and injured five others, officials said.

The Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) said television channels would be down for a while after an explosion rocked the communications tower in the centre of the capital.

Anton Herashchenko, adviser to the ministry, posted footage of the attack on social media. Pictures showed bodies at the site of the blast.

The TV tower was shown still standing though parts of the metal structure appeared to have been torn off and blown several metres. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said a control room and an electrical substation were damaged.

Local reporter Illia Ponomarenko said the the city authorities had promised to fix the damage as soon as possible.

The MIA said no staff were hurt in the attack.

Mr Gerashchenko said the explosion hit a memorial site for the Babin Yar mass shootings, a Nazi massacre which killed more than 30,000 Jewish people over two days in 1941.

He said in a Telegram post: “Russian occupation forces have done unthinkable - they have bombed jewish tombs at [Babin Yar].

“This place was the scene of possibly the largest shooting massacre during the Holocaust.”

“To tell you the truth, I haven’t had right words and indignation for such deed. If this isn’t fascism - what is it?”

The Russian Defence Ministry earlier said it was planning to strike targets in Kyiv used by Ukrainian security services.

The strikes aimed to prevent “information attacks” on Russia, the ministry said as it warned residents of the capital to flee their homes.

In Moscow, defence minister Sergei Shoigu said the Kremlin would press its military operation in Ukraine until it achieves its goal of bolstering Russian security to protect from threats by the West.

The plan was not to occupy Ukraine, he said.

A US official said the assault on Kyiv had “stalled” and some units were “surrendering without a fight” to Ukrainian troops.

The UK Ministry of Defence said intelligence showed the Russian advance on Kyiv had made little progress in the past 24 hours, probably due to logistical problems.

But it also warned that Russia was risking more civilian casualties by using heavy artillery in urban areas.

Death tolls from the fighting remain unclear but a senior western intelligence official estimated on Tuesday that more than 5,000 Russian soldiers had been captured or killed so far.

The UN human rights office says it has recorded the deaths of 136 civilians, including 13 children, in Ukraine since the invasion began on Thursday but warned the toll may be far higher.