Vladimir Putin greeted a US diplomat, on his way to Ukraine’s capital to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, with a wave of missiles.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has arrived in Kyiv on an official visit, sources close to the president’s office told Ukrainian media.
His third visit to the war-torn country comes just days after Zelensky dismissed his defence minister Oleksii Reznikov after a number of recent corruption scandals in the ministry.
The rip is aimed to assess Ukraine’s three-month-old counteroffensive and signal continued US support to drive out the Kremlin’s forces.
Hours before Blinken touched down on Ukrainian soil Russia launched missiles at Kyiv.
People awoke to the sudden sound of air raid sirens at around 5.50am local time followed by explosions in the sky.
Ukrainian officials said air defence systems shot them all down, and no casualties were reported.
‘Another missile attack by the enemy on the peaceful city,’ Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration, said on Telegram.
Falling debris damaged the facades of several buildings, private cars, windows in a medical facility and a police office, officials said.
Away from the capital, Russia also targeted the southern region of Odesa early on Wednesday, killing one civilian.
During the nearly three-hour drone strike, several agricultural and port facilities were damaged.
Several fires were reported in the Izmail district, an important grain exporting hub on the Danube, said regional governor Oleh Kiper.
‘An employee of an agricultural enterprise, who was seriously injured, died in the hospital,’ he added.
Kiper did not name the port. Agriculture consultancy APK-Inform said there had been a fire at the small Kilia river port.
Ukraine operates several river ports on the Danube as well as two major ports, Reni and Izmail, which have previously been attacked by Russian drones.
Kilia, which focuses on dry cargo, was attacked for the first time, APK-Inform said.
Ukraine’s air force said air defence systems destroyed 23 out of the 33 air weapons Russia launched overnight.
They included 25 Iranian-made Shahed drones, seven cruise missiles and one Iskander ballistic missile, it said.
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