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Russian drone strikes on Kyiv: apartment block explodes, female body pulled out from under rubble

The Insider

After Russian kamikaze drones attacked the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on the morning of October 17, an explosion rang out in one of the residential buildings in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district. A female body was pulled out from under the rubble, with rescue teams continuing to operate at the scene, said Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko.

According to Klitschko, 18 people have already been rescued, while another resident remains under the rubble:

“A female body has been retrieved from under the rubble of a house in the Shevchenkivskyi district, where there was an explosion as a result of a drone attack. Another person is still under the rubble. Search and rescue work continues. Three victims have been hospitalized.”

UPD: Anton Herashchenko, advisor at the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, has reported the retrieval of a fourth body from beneath the collapsed apartment block in Kyiv

Traffic is currently blocked on sections of several streets in the center of Kyiv. Klitschko urged residents not to travel to the city center without an urgent need and not to ignore the air-raid alarms.

The mayor also published a photo of a cat rescued from under the rubble.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, later added that 19 people were rescued in total, while four were injured and two were killed.

On the morning of October 17, Kyiv suffered a massive attack by kamikaze drones. Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko reported that several residential buildings were damaged as a result of the strikes. Pro-Kremlin blogger and self-styled “war correspondent” Yury Kotenok claimed that a “series of strikes on targets” in Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy, and Dnipro were held during the night. He claimed that mass drone strikes in Kyiv “damaged the Ukrenerho building and the railway station area.” These claims have not been officially confirmed. The Russian authorities did not comment on the drone strikes.