BBC reporter ducks for cover as Vladimir Putin enacts revenge on Ukraine’s capital

Footage of a television reporter ducking for cover as Russia’s missiles struck Kyiv on Monday has shown a snippet of the carnage in Ukraine.

The BBC’s Hugo Bachega was giving an update on the possibility of Russian retaliation over the partial destruction of a key bridge in the Russian-annexed state of Crimea over the weekend, when missiles whistled over his head.

“So the fear is that this could trigger a very strong Russia response,” he said.

“We saw yesterday in a residential area of the city of Zaporizhzhia, the city in the south of the country, very close to the frontlines, was hit. More than a dozen ...”

Bachega interrupted his address and ducked for cover before a loud bang was heard.

The reporter confirmed he and his team were safe, but revealed one of the missiles landed “very close to our hotel here in the city centre”.

“There was a sense of a weird normal here in Kyiv because it was a city that hadn’t been attacked for quite some time, the front lines are quite some distance from the capital,” he told the BBC as emergency services rushed to the scene.

“There was a sense that life, as much as possible, was returning to normal.”

Early reports say eight civilians died in the attack, with over a dozen more seriously wounded.

Blasts echoed through the centre of the city early on Monday, with several graphic videos showing the missiles exploding metres away from civilians.
 

Hugo Bachega of @BBCWorld indeed, live, in Kiev as ominous noises thunder out of the sky pic.twitter.com/qkIlGpJ2Nh

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) October 10, 2022

Early reports say at least eight people were killed in the attack, with a further 24 wounded.

The explosions took place around 8am local time, with air raid sirens sounding in the Ukrainian capital more than an hour before the blasts.

Videos posted on social media showed black smoke rising above several areas in the city.

There were also explosions reported in Dnipro, Lviv, Ternopil and Zhytomyr.

The head of the Ukrainian military said Monday that Russian forces launched at least 75 missiles at Ukraine on Monday morning.

“The terrorist country, Russia, has carried out massive missile and air strikes on the territory of Ukraine, also using attack drones. In the morning, the aggressor launched 75 missiles. 41 of them were shot down by our air defence,” General Valeriy Zaluzhny said on social media.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the huge offensive.

“This morning is difficult. We are dealing with terrorists. Dozens of missiles and Iranian Shaheds. They have two targets. Energy facilities throughout the country … They want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system,” Zelensky said in a video address on social media, adding that “the second target is people”.