Russian Forces Shell Residential and Commercial Facilities in Kyiv... At Least 8 Dead

A pedestrian is walking with a dog near a shopping center in Kyiv (Kiyev), the capital of Ukraine, destroyed by a Russian airstrike.

Russian forces shelled residential and commercial areas in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, killing at least eight people, according to major foreign news agencies including the Associated Press (AP) on the 21st (local time), citing Ukrainian rescue authorities.

The previous night, Russian shelling targeted the Podilskyi district, a commercial and residential area in northern Kyiv, completely demolishing a shopping center. Foreign media reported that smoke continued to rise from the debris until the next morning.

The shelling also shattered all the windows and bent the steel frames of high-rise buildings near the shopping center, the reports added. The New York Times (NYT) reported that six bodies were found in the rubble of the collapsed shopping center, and a soldier at the rescue site said there could be around 20 people trapped under the debris.